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LIFE ON THE FARM 



Or, SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE SIMPLIFIED 



A READING BOOK 
FOR GRAMMAR AND HIGH SCHOOLS 



BY 



HIRAM H. SHEPARD 

Science Instructor in the Chicago Normal School 



ILLUSTRATED 



CHICAGO 
A. FLANAGAN CO. 



Thf library of 
congress, 

TWO Coi-<£S KeCEn/ED 

DEC. 16 1901 

COPVRIOHT 6NTRV 

CLASS C^XXc. No. 

oop? a 



COPYRIGHT, IQOI 
BY A. FLANAGAN CO 






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* * • • 






PREFACE. 



Life on the farm now is not what it used to be. 
The general development of the age accounts for 
this. Each year adds something new to the agri- 
cultural field, and not infrequently are these new 
things so complex in their nature that the broadest 
scientific knowledge is required for their interpre- 
tation and use. There is probably no other indus- 
try in which so many branches of science enter as 
farming; nearly the whole list can be used in some 
way or other. 

This volume is designed, primarily, as a reader, 
or text-book, in rural schools of agricultural re- 
gions; but we think it could be used with profit in 
both village and city schools. Pupils can learn to 
read by reading about real things which are in 
close touch with their daily lives, and which they 
wish to remember, as well by reading about remote, 
fictitious things which they can not and do not care 
to remember. First-hand knowledge should be 
learned before any other. The things to be studied 
on a farm are full of interest, beauty, and utility. 
Where is a field more varied and vital than the one 



4 PREFACE. 

which includes soil, air, light, heat, plants, germs, 
insects, birds, and domestic animals? 

Our aim has been to treat the subjects scien- 
tifically, but with as few needless technicalities as 
possible. 

Acknowledgment is due to Prof. Lewis W. Col- 
well, principal of the Linne Grammar School, Chi- 
cago, Illinois, for his suggestions in the first reading 
of the manuscript; to Prof. Alden S. Rinker, for the 
use of three photographs; and to Mr. C. W. Mogg, 
for the use of three photographs. Much help has 
also been derived from the farmers in and around 
Linn, Illinois, with whom we spend two or three 
months each summer. They have been untiring 
in their efforts to explain and demonstrate prac- 
tical farm work. Especial gratitude is due to Mr. 
William F. Corrie, a boy companion in farm life 
and work, and who still is ever ready to explain 
how wealth can be secured from wornout land, 
and how a successful, happy life can be found on 
a farm. 

If this volume helps, only in a small way, to 
explain some of the general principles of agricul- 
ture, to lend an interest to the appreciation and the 
enjoyment of nature, and to elevate the dignity 
and nobility of farm life, we shall feel well repaid 
for the labor of its preparation. 

Hiram H. Shepard. 

Chicago Normal School, 
October, 1901. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Preface 



CHAPTER I— THE SOIL. 



How Soil is Formed 

Water Transports Soil .... 
Effects of Soil Erosion on the Surface of 

the Earth 

Surface Tension, Evaporation, Gravity . 
How Water in the Soil Feeds Plants . 
When and How Plowing Benefits Soil . 
The Use of Soil Air . ' . ... 

Why Cultivation Benefits Crops 
Sources and Uses of Soil Heat 
Chemical Composition and Kinds of Soil 
Work of Crayfish, Ants, Rodents, Angle 

worms, etc. . 



12- 



I4-I8 
ig-20 
21-22 

23 
26 
27 
29 

34 
39 



CHAPTER II— PLANTS. 

Soil the Ideal Home for Plants ... 4 2 

How Plants are Distributed over the Earth 43~44 

The Struggle of Plants for Existence . . 45 

Simple and Complex Plants . . . . 47 

Organs and Functions of Plants ... 51 

Why Plants Have so Many Roots and Leaves 53 

Some Interesting Facts about Leaves . . 55~S9 

5 



CONTENTS. 



Where Leaves Get Their Material 
Arrangement, Number, and Forms of Leaves 
What Plants do with Their Food . 
The Importance of Perfect Seeds . 
Individual Plants, Their Growth and Uses 
(Indian Corn, Potatoes, Beans, Peas) 



60 

62-67 

68 

70 

73-84 



CHAPTER III— TREES. 

The Study of Trees of Great Importance . 85 

How Trees Benefit Life .... 87 

Planting and Cultivating Groves ... 88 

Trees Afford Beauty and Shelter Birds . 89 

Characteristics and Uses of Individual Trees 92-103 
(Elm, Maple, Oak, Cottonwood, Poplar, Hickory) 



CHAPTER IV— INSECTS. 

The Four Periods in Insect Life 

What Insects Eat During These Stages . 

Intelligence Displayed by Insects in Secur 

ing Food, etc. 
How Insects Aid in Plant Life 
Insect Enemies .... 
Means for Destroying Insects 
Some Common Insect Pests 
Life-History of the House Fly 
Weevils, How and Where They Work 
Granary Weevil, Grain Moth, Indian Meal 

Moth 

Operations of the Hessian Fly 
Bugs in General, the Squash Bug 
How to Keep Out Insects 



104 
105-107 

108-115 

109-112 

112 

"5 

117 

117-119 

120 

122-123 
124 
126 

123-128 



CONTENTS. 7 

PAGE 

CHAPTER V— BIRDS. 

Purposes of Birds in the Cycle of Life . . 130 

What Birds Feed upon I 3 I 

Relation of the Food of Birds to Farming 

and Gardening J 34 

Why Birds Should be Protected . . 134 136-133 
Pleasure from the Beauty and the Cheerful 

Songs of Birds l 3% 

Individual Birds— The Useful Woodpecker . 139 
Why the Swallow Should be Protected . 141-143 
The Meadow Lark, Its Food, Its Cheerful 

Song J 44 

Unwise Destruction of Quails and Sparrows 147 
The Owl, the House Wren, Robins Blue- 
birds, Bobolinks . . . . I33> x 48, 15° 
^ CHAPTER VI— BACTERIA. 

What Bacteria Are l S l 

The Three Classes — Useful, Harmful, 

neither Useful nor Harmful . . . 151 

Shapes of Bacteria, How They Grow . . 152 

Conditions of Life and Active Existence / 154 
How Bacteria Preserve Life and Make Soils 

Fertile J S5 

Why Heat and Moisture Injure Grain and 

Hay l 5% 

Causes of Decay in Fruits, Vegetables and 

Meats *5 8 

How Food may be Preserved .... 160 
Sources of Milk Contamination ... 161 
Bacteria Beneficial in Butter and Cheese- 
Making l &4 

How Bacteria Change Cider to Vinegar . 165 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

A Beautiful Farm Scene Fron. 

Soil-Building in the Forest 10 

Soil-Building in the Swamp 12 

Soil -Wearing Along the Roadside 15 

Soil-Wearing Along the Brook 17 

Where the Soil is Well Cultivated 30 

Red Clover, Timothy, Oats and Wheat 45 

An Autumn Corn Field . . . .46 

Hay Cutting and Stacking . . . 4S 

Hay Stacks 51 

In the Wheat Field 57 

Leaves and Blossoms 64 

Threshing Wheat 67 

Measuring Wheat at the Thrasher 71 

Corn Growing 74 

Cutting Corn with a Machine 76 

Southern Pines 86 

Cottonwood Tree 90 

The Elm and the Box Elder . 93 

Cabbage Butterfly, Caterpillar and Chrysalis .... 105 

Cecropia Moth 107 

How Insects Carry Pollen in 

The Dragon Fly . ...... . .- . . . 114 

Woolly Aphis of the Apple 121 

Squash vine Borer 127 

The Kingfisher 130 

The Woodpecker ......... 132 

The Screech Owl . .- . 135 

The Bobolink 137 

The Swallow ........... 141 

The Bluebird 144 

The Robin 149 

Bacteria . . „ 152 

8 



T JFE ON THE FARM 



CHAPTER I. 
THE SOIL. 

How soil is formed. Relation of water to soil. Water both destruc- 
tive and useful. Movement of water in the soil. Where the 
water goes. Retention of soil water. When plowing benefits 
soil. Soil air. Why cultivation is beneficial. Effect of air 
pressure. Soil temperature. Relation of heat to soil. Chemical 
composition and kinds of soil. Elements composing the soil. 
Relation of earthworms and other small animals to soil fertility. 

The soil is the source from which many useful 
things come. Wheat, from which bread is made, 
comes directly from the soil; and most of the meat 
we eat was once in the form of grain or hay, and 
this grows directly from the soil. The same may 
be said of the different kinds of cloth, leather, 
carpets, lumber, and a host of other useful things. 

Soil is composed of decayed rocks, and of the 
remains of plants and animals. It has been form- 
ing for thousands of years, and the same work is 
going on to-day. 

Roots of plants, from the tiny weed that grows 
by the roadside to the forest tree, have the power 
of penetrating the earth in such a way as to break 

9 



10 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



up the rocks and make them fit food for plants. 
This is done in several ways. Growing roots have 
great power of expansion, so much so that when 
they enter the cracks of rocks, or grow between 
rock layers, they crowd these segments apart and 




SOIL-BUILDING IN THE FOREST. 



break the rocks to pieces. Then again, the roots 
of plants have little glands in them. These send out 
acids which have the power of dissolving rocks and 
small pieces of earth. In this way plants are enabled 
to take earthy material into the structure of their 



THE SOIL. 11 

bodies as food. When they die and decay, this is left 
as food for other plants. The gray ash left after 
plants are burned, is the earthy matter. 

As with most things in nature, there is a constant 
and ceaseless change of activity in the process of 
soil-building. Plant food, stored in the soil during 
one season, is partly washed away by rains, partly 
taken up by plants, and partly left over for future 
years. This work goes on year in and year out, and 
must continue to do so as long as we exist upon the 
earth, for it is the great storehouse from which 
alone food for plants and animals may be drawn. 

RELATION OF WATER TO SOIL. 

Scattered through the air in all places, and at all 
times, are countless numbers of very fine dust par- 
ticles. They are so small that they cannot be seen 
with the naked eye, yet their presence in the air is 
probably one of the causes of the blueness of the 
sky. Every gust of wind catches them up and bears 
them away high over our heads and over the tops 
of trees and mountains. The heavier particles fall 
again when the air becomes still, but the finer and 
lighter ones float in the air a very long time. This 
is true not only of fine bits of wood, paper, and 
such light material, but of rocks, and the heavy 
metals. When anything is powdered fine enough, 
each particle has so much surface exposed to the 
air, compared with its volume, that it will float as 
lightly as a feather. 



12 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



Men who have made a careful study of rain say 
that these fine dust particles in the air have the 
power of attracting water vapor. When these little 
dust particles have gathered a thick film of water 
around themselves, they become so heavy that they 
can no longer float, and so fall to the earth as 




SOIL-BUILDING IN THE SWAMP. 



drops of rain. They grow larger and larger as they 
fall, till, on striking the ground, the surface of a 
pond, or the leaves of plants, they are no longer 
fine particles of mist, but drops of water large 
enough to be seen and felt. 



THE SOIL. 13 

Rain, in falling, not only carries down with it these 
particles of dust around which it clings, but acids, 
which help to dissolve the rocks. Rock thus dis- 
solved is caught in the soil to remain as plant food; 
or is borne away into streams, and thence to the 
sea. Here some of it is taken up by such animals 
as oysters and corals. They are thus enabled to 
secrete the hard outer skeletons of their bodies. 
Some of it finds its way down through the earth 
to the permanent water layers, or veins, from 
whence we get it as the hard water of wells and 
springs. 

Carbonic acid is brought down by every rain. It 
is constantly poured into the air from the chimneys 
of houses and factories, and from the lungs of 
animals. It has the power, when mixed with water, 
of dissolving limestone. Many caves in Kentucky 
and Indiana have been formed by this action. Water 
bearing this acid in solution has trickled down into 
the crevices of the limestone deposits of those 
regions and gradually eaten out cavities so large 
that people can walk into some of them for 
miles. 

Rain, then, not only falls upon the earth to make 
it productive, but it also washes the air clean of its 
impurities, making it wholesome and pure for us to 
breathe. The atmosphere of cities has more 
impurities in it than that of the country. For this 
reason the free, open country is a more healthful 
place for dwelling. 



14 LIFE ON THE FARM. 



WATER BOTH DESTRUCTIVE AND USEFUL. 

Water is destructive as well as useful. Evidence 
of this can be seen after every heavy rain in the 
amount of earth washed down from the steep, 
unprotected hillsides. Similar action takes place 
on the more level ground, especially when it is not 
protected by plant growth, and even then some is 
washed away. Some of the soil washed away by 
the water is carried only a few feet, and settles 
down of its own weight if the water flows slowly or 
spreads out into shallow pools. Some is carried 
many rods, sometimes settling down and spreading 
out in a thin layer over a large piece of low land. 
The finest soil is carried into the rivers and finally 
reaches the sea. More than a hundred million tons 
are thus carried annually by the Mississippi to the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

There is a difference between water wearing 
land away and dissolving it away. Soil worn away 
makes water muddy, but the water may hold, in 
addition, dissolved matter which is not seen. 
Muddy water soon becomes clear when not in 
motion; but after it becomes perfectly clear, it 
nearly always contains other earthy matter which 
will not settle, regardless of the length of time 
that it remains quiet. This dissolved matter, 
however, can be obtained by evaporating the 
water. 

The washing away of soil by the action of water 



THE SOIL. 



15 



can scarcely be overestimated. One can see the 
effects of it by the roadside, beside the small 
rivulets and streams, in the garden and yard, 
and in the fields. It is the force that cuts down 
the hills and spreads them out into level plains. 




SOIL-WEARING ALONG THE ROADSIDE. 



It takes hold of everything it can grasp and 
carries it from one place to another. A strip 
of plowed soil several inches deep may be 
washed by a heavy rain to a lower level on the 
opposite side of a wide field, or even into an 



1G LIFE ON THE FARM. 

adjoining field. There is not so much loss, though, 
if nothing more disturbs it; but when nothing hin- 
ders, and the swiftly-flowing torrent carries it into 
the rivers, and thence to the sea, then the loss, so 
far as the present is concerned, is complete. Those 
having hilly or rolling land should cultivate it 
so as to prevent washing away as much as pos- 
sible. 

Stems, roots, branches, and leaves of plants, — 
especially the roots, — help to hold the soil against 
the erosive action of water. Grass is especially 
good on ordinary ground, and trees for steep hills. 
All hills that wash away so much that they become 
barren in most places, should be planted with trees 
so as to stop the wearing. The trees would also be 
a great benefit in many other ways besides their 
value as timber (which would result after a number 
of years). Soil which unavoidably washes from 
cultivated fields can be caught and held on the 
lower ground by keeping the lower ground planted 
in grass of some kind. This not only tends to level 
up the hilly fields, but the soil thus made is of the 
best quality, being deep, rich, and in many cases 
almost inexhaustible. The writer has just visited 
a large field which is covered with a layer of soil, 
averaging about two feet in depth, washed down 
from the higher land above it. The crops of 
wheat, oats, clover, and corn now growing on it 
surpass those of any of the adjoining fields. 



THE SOIL. 



17 



ONE NIGHT S RAIN-STORM. 



It is both interesting and instructive to walk out 
after a heavy summer's rain and see the small, 
muddy rivulets running in almost every direction, 
following wagon ruts in the open roads, plow-fur- 




SOIL-WEARING ALONG THE BROOK. 



rows in the fields, and mole-tunnels everywhere. 
Last night's heavy rain washed from about an acre 
of newly plowed ground fully a ton of soil, which 
settled by the roadside at the corner of the field, 



18 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

It reminds one of the delta of the Nile or the Mis- 
sissippi. Farther down the road are hundreds of 
tongues of sediment a few inches wide and several 
feet long. They have left little gullies from 
which the earth has been washed. The main 
ditch, which receives all this water, from both east 
and west, is about six feet deep and ten feet wide. 
The muddy water is rushing wildly down its chan- 
nel this morning, and will be in the Wabash before 
many hours. In some places the banks are so low 
that some of the water flowed out into the open 
fields and there, becoming quiet, left a thin sedi- 
ment of fine mud. A wide board, which happened 
to be lying in a pasture close by, was covered with 
a sediment of soil about half an inch thick. The 
force of gravity impels the water onward to the 
larger streams, and draws it down into the earth, 
but at the same time it is pulling still harder on 
every particle of the heavier earth and brings it to 
rest whenever the water slackens its speed. 

Not only is the earth from the cultivated fields 
and the open roads thus torn loose and carried 
away, but the banks and beds of the small streams 
themselves lose their share. During some rainy 
seasons, this amounts to nearly a foot each month. 
A small elm tree which stood in firm soil a 
month ago on the bank of the ditch just men- 
tioned, was so undermined by the action of last 
night's freshet that only a few roots on one 
side are holding it to the soft mud. It is not able 



THE SOIL. 19 

to stand erect any longer, but will soon lose its 
entire hold/and drift down the current to lodge 
against some neighbor's cross fence. In a similar 
manner full grown trees have been dug out and 
can be seen floating down our large rivers in times 
of high water. 

MOVEMENTS OF WATER IN THE SOIL. 

On dipping a marble, a pebble, or a pencil in 
water it will be seen, on taking it out, that a thin 
film of water adheres to it. A dry pebble, touched 
against the one already wet, will take part of the 
water film away from the first one; and a third, 
touched against the second, will do likewise; and so 
on, each taking a part of the water and holding it 
to itself. A force within the earth, called gravity, 
pulls everything downward; but each little grain of 
soil has a power within itself which acts against 
gravity, and keeps a part of the rain falling upon 
the earth from escaping too fast. This power that 
pebbles, grains of sand, particles of fine earth, and 
a great many other things have of drawing a film 
of water around themselves is called surface ten- 
sion, or capillarity. It is a force just as truly as 
gravity is, and plays a very important part in agri- 
culture. 

It will be found, however, that those same things 
which were covered with this thin film of water, 
will, if left exposed to free air for a short time, lose 
the water adhering to them and become perfectly 



20 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

dry. It is the air which takes the water away. The 
air has a power within itself of taking water away 
from things. This is called evaporation, because 
the water thus taken by the air can no longer be 
seen, but takes the form of an invisible vapor. The 
power of evaporation must, in one sense, be 
stronger than either surface tension or gravity. 
Surface tension pulls water away from gravity, yet 
the vaporizing power of air takes it away from 
both. These three forces acting together on water 
in the soil are the main ones with which the 
farmer has to deal. Surface tension and evapora- 
tion are not studied or understood so much as they 
should be in order to get the best results from the 
cultivation of the soil. 

WHERE THE WATER GOES. 

Water falling upon the earth either flows away 
or sinks down to be kept in store for plants. If 
the soil be already filled with water, most of it runs 
away; but when the earth is dry, and the rain does 
not fall too fast, nearly all of it is absorbed. Dur- 
ing the winter season, when little evaporation takes 
place, on account of the low temperature of the 
air and the frozen condition of the soil, a great 
amount of water accumulates. Some of it is kept 
within a few feet of the surface and some sinks 
very deep, according to the nature of the soil below 
the top layer, that is, the subsoil. If the subsoil 
is of a loose, open nature, like sand or gravel, the 



THE SOIL. 21 

water will sink through it very rapidly; but if it is 
a stiff clay, it will be retained for a very long time, 
generally till the next season's growth of plants 
can use it. 

Dry ground which is wet, say four inches 
deep, by a rain of one day will be found to be 
wet six or eight inches by the next day. The 
grains of earth had so much water clinging to them 
that they could not hold it all firmly; so gravity 
and the surface tension of the grains below pulled 
some of it down still further. A limit, however, is 
soon reached, and that same water starts on an 
upward course, due to evaporation at the surface. 
The top layer of soil grains gives up its moisture 
to the air, while at the same time more is 
drawn by capillarity from the ones below, till all 
the water has passed back to the air whence it 
came. 

Not all of the water held by soil escapes into the 
air if plants are growing there. They take it up 
with their roots wonderfully fast. If their roots 
do not go down to where all the water is, the surface 
tension of the soil-grains pulls it up to them, and 
this is the useful office of that wonderful force. A 
good example of surface tension can be seen along 
the margins of streams and other bodies of water. 
When the banks are dry, it will be noticed that the 
earth is wet several inches above the surface of 
the water. Posts and trees standing in the water 
are also moist above the water surface. The 



22 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

moisture is drawn upward just as the oil is drawn 
by a lamp wick. 

Another important fact should be mentioned 
regarding the capillary movement of water in soil. 
Water is the greatest of solvents, that is, it dis- 
solves more substances than any other. So, when 
water sinks into the earth, it dissolves out many of 
the ingredients of the soil, especially the plant 
foods, and these would be permanently lost were 
there no such power as surface tension to bring it 
back again in reach of the roots of plants. Every 
one knows, of course, that warm water has greater 
dissolving power than cold water; so, when the 
chilly winter rain fills the earth with stores of 
water, it does not carry down much dissolved 
material with it; but when summer comes, with its 
plants, and its thirsty, warm air to cause evapora- 
tion, that same water is drawn back to the surface, 
dissolving as it comes nutritious substances from the 
deeper soil and leaving them at the place most 
needed. Then, too, the warm, summer rains 
which dissolve so many rich substances of the 
top soil, find it laced and interlaced with the roots of 
growing plants to catch it before it can get away. 

The soil, in its natural state, such as that of a 
forest, sees to it that all these forces are equally 
balanced, and tha't there is little waste; but, in the 
cultivated state, the conditions are so changed that 
the soil soon becomes poor if great care and wis- 
dom are not exercised. 



THE SOIL. 23 



RETENTION OF SOIL WATER. 

It is a fact that, during the average year, there is 
not enough water in the ground for the production 
of as large crops as it is possible for the soil to 
yield. It is important for the farmer to cultivate 
the soil so as to keep as much water as possible in 
store for plant growth. In many cases, the water 
is allowed to escape so rapidly that only a partial 
harvest is the result. It escapes from the soil in 
three ways: by soaking downward, by evaporation 
at the surface, and by being absorbed by the roots 
of plants. The last, however, is the most desira- 
ble, especially when a useful crop of plants is being 
grown. It is difficult to prevent the soaking down- 
ward; for, as has been said, it depends largely upon 
the nature of the subsoil. During most seasons 
there is not enough water in the soil for much 
soaking away to take place. Not all of the water 
falling upon the ground gets a chance to soak in. 
Often the field is left for the winter so smooth and 
compact that the rains and melted snows quickly 
run away. 

WHEN PLOWING BENEFITS SOIL. 

Experience has proved that plowing the ground 
late in the fall helps to catch and retain water. 
The plowing leaves the ground loose, rough, and 
open, so the winter snows and rains are caught and 
retained in the many small cavities due to the 



24 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

plowing. It is often in a better condition, too, for 
early spring working than ground not plowed in 
the fall, and an early and successful crop can be 
started under more favorable conditions than would 
otherwise be possible. When it is dry enough to 
work, a good harrowing generally will reduce it to 
a smooth mellow condition, giving it the power to 
retain the largest amount of heat and moisture. 

It is a well known physical fact that the more 
surface a given quantity of matter presents to the 
air, the faster it will dry out, or allow evaporation 
to take place. So, when it is desired to retain as 
much water as possible in the soil, the surface 
should be left smooth and level. After the ground 
is plowed, but before the crop is planted, this is 
best done by harrowing it down to a moderately 
fine powder. With crops such as corn and pota- 
toes, which require cultivation after being planted, 
cultivators should be used which leave the soil as 
level as possible. Rows of plants left in ridges, or 
hilled up, exposing so much surface to the air, 
thus allowing the moisture to escape by too rapid 
evaporation, generally suffer from lack of water. 
Some root crops, if the soil be of a close, heavy 
nature, require this kind of cultivation in order to get 
the soil loose enough for them to expand in, but care 
should be taken to prevent a complete drying out. 

If the store of water which sinks into the ground 
during the winter is to be relied upon for the sum- 
mer's crop, it is essential to plant as early as the 



THE SOIL. 25 

weather will permit, so that none may be wasted by 
evaporation, or used up by weeds before the 
desired crop begins to grow. Early planting is 
generally best, for the roots of plants not only 
drink in their full share of water early in the sea- 
son, but the ground is soon shaded by the growing 
leaves crowding out the weeds, which would claim a 
part of the soil nourishment. They also prevent 
early winds from drying the soil by not allowing 
them such free access to the surface, from which 
they take away the moisture very rapidly. All 
have noticed the drying effect of wind, even when 
the sun is not shining. It often does its work as 
rapidly during the night as during the day. A 
hedge-row, a fence, or even a strip of ground with 
a higher growth of plants, will so break the force 
of wind that little loss will result. Winds are 
beneficial in many ways, but a very mild one may 
do a vast amount of damage. 

SOIL AIR. 

Surrounding the entire earth is a layer of air 
many miles high. It is invisible and very light; yet, 
on account of its great volume, gravity exerts 
such a pull on it that it presses heavily, about four- 
teen pounds to the square-inch, everywhere upon 
the surface of the earth. It presses heaviest, of 
course, upon the lowest places. Air, which is so 
essential to plant and animal life, and to the for- 
mation of mineral compounds, is composed mainly 



26 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

of nitrogen and oxygen — about seventy-five per 
cent of nitrogen and twenty-five per cent of oxy- 
gen. It also contains small amounts of other ele- 
ments and compounds which will not be spoken of 
here. Air is just as essential to soil as water is; 
and, although it cannot be seen entering and leav- 
ing, yet the soil breathes just as truly as plants and 
animals do. That soil does contain air may be 
found by filling any tall vessel with dry earth and 
pouring water on it. Bubbles will be seen to 
escape as the water sinks. The air which filled 
the spaces between the earth particles was replaced 
by the heavier water and escaped as bubbles at the 
surface. 

The roots of most plants require air just as their 
leaves do; and if in any way they are deprived of 
the supply, the entire plant will die. When a field, 
with germinating seeds or a growing crop, is 
flooded for several days, great injury or total 
destruction will result. This is due to the water's 
shutting out the supply of air which is so essential 
to germinating seeds and growing roots. Seeds 
contain compounds of such a nature that oxygen 
is needed for their transformation before they can 
be used by the growing sprouts, and the air has to 
supply this needed element. 

WHY CULTIVATION IS BENEFICIAL. 

The rapidity of germination and growth depends 
to a large extent upon the quantity of air supplied 



THE SOIL. 27 

to the soil. A loose, open soil allows air to enter 
it more freely than does one of a close texture; 
but most soils tend to pack and become less porous 
after the crop is planted. Some means, then, must 
be resorted to so that good soil-breathing may be 
restored. This is usually done, with crops which 
admit of it, by cultivation. In plowing the ground 
between the rows of plants, the broken-up and 
falling earth catches the air and drags it down into 
the resulting spaces. If the roots of the crop go 
deep into the earth, then the deeper the cultivation 
the better for rapid growth. 

Sometimes a field of corn, or other crop, is not 
cultivated because the weeds do not affect it; but 
frequent cultivation should take place for air sup- 
ply to the roots, and also for the conservation of 
moisture, even when all weeds have been destroyed. 
It is not only necessary to supply air to the roots 
of plants during their early growing condition, but 
at all times, from germination till fruiting. 

In a compact, water-filled soil, no air can circu- 
late. Water always contains some air in solution 
after falling as rain, but the amount is small, and 
its free oxygen is soon exhausted by the roots of 
the growing crop. If, however, there is a deep,- 
porous subsoil into which the rain may quickly 
sink; or if the field is underdrained well with til- 
ing, the water runs away quickly, leaving empty 
spaces into which gravity pulls the air so that the 
needed oxgyen and nitrogen are supplied. It is 



$8 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

quite essential, too, thus to get rid of the surplus 
water, especially during very wet springs and sum- 
mers, for, besides opening up a means for the free 
circulation of the air among the spaces left by the 
vacated water, the soil is left warmer for early 
germination and growth. In the discussion further 
on, it will be shown that water which has to leave 
the soil by evaporation at the surface makes the 
ground so cold that the life-activities of plants are 
retarded. 

EFFECT OF AIR PRESSURE. 

The pressure of the air upon the surface of the 
earth constantly varies. An instrument called the 
barometer measures the pressure, and no two days 
have exactly the same amount; in fact, there is 
always a slight, and often a great, variation for two 
hours of the same day. Various causes produce 
these changes; the main one being the unequal 
heating of the atmosphere. 

Now, when there is great air pressure, the water 
in the ground, if there is any near enough the sur- 
face to be affected, is pressed further down by the 
added force, its place being taken by air, produc- 
ing a downward current. When the pressure of 
the air becomes less., the force of the confined 
water presses it back, forcing the air with it, and 
thus is produced an upward current. Not only 
does this change take place from above, but in 
many places from beneath through tile drains, and 



THE SOIL. 29 

other underground channels; but, from whatever 
source, there is always some circulation of air in 
the soil from atmospheric changes. 

Then, too, there is a small circulation in the top 
few inches during warm, sunshiny days, when the 
soil is cultivated so that it is not too compact. Air 
has such great power of expansion that, under the 
added heat of noonday, some is forced out; but, 
cooling and contracting during the night, it 
returns. 

Soils which are open and well drained, may have 
too much ventilation, from which injurious results 
may follow. The air which enters the earth goes 
there for the purpose of supplying the roots of 
plants with food directly, or it acts upon the min- 
erals in the ground and changes them into plant 
food. If the air circulates too freely in the soil, so 
much food is formed that the plants cannot use it 
all immediately, and some of it goes to waste. 
Some is dissolved and washed downward by the 
next rain beyond recovery, and some is of such 
a nature that it soon loses its identity, and thus 
becomes unfit for use. It should be the aim to 
keep such soils as moist as possible at the surface, 
and the pores well filled by the right kind of culti- 
vation. 

SOIL TEMPERATURE. 

The soil receives its heat in three ways: — from 
the interior of the earth, from decomposition of 



THE SOIL. 31 

organic matter, and from the sun. That received 
from the interior of the earth is so small that it 
may not be considered here. The greatest 
amount comes from the sun. This can be easily 
noticed by observing the difference in temperature 
between winter and summer, and day and night. 
Both light and heat reach the earth from the sun, 
but light rays have little to do with soil conditions; 
on the other hand, heat rays play a very important 
part. 

When light or heat falls upon an object it is 
either reflected away or absorbed, according to the 
color and other physical conditions of the object 
upon which it falls. Light-colored objects reflect 
away the most and dark-colored objects absorb 
the most. A dark-colored object that absorbs 
heat is, of course, made warmer thereby. So the 
darker the color of soil, other things not being 
considered, the more heat rays will it absorb and 
consequently the warmer it will be. 

Some things are heated very quickly but give up 
their heat just as quickly; and those which are slow 
in being heated, give up their heat slowly in return. 
Water is a substance which absorbs heat slowly 
and retains it a long time. The boiling kettle of 
water remains hot a long time after the fire goes 
out and the stove becomes cold. So it is with 
soils; some become very hot during the middle of 
the day, and cold at night. Those which are 
heated only moderately during the day, keep a 



32 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

considerable amount of the heat over night. 
Sandy soils are easily heated, but are not on the 
average the warmest. 

RELATION OF HEAT TO THE SOIL. 

The relation of heat to the soil is important. 
All living things, both plants and animals, require 
a certain amount of heat in order to live and grow. 
With the higher animals, a great amount of heat is 
necessary. The bodily temperature of man and 
many other animals must be nearly ioo° F. at all 
times. If it rises a few degrees higher, or falls a 
few degrees lower than this, death, or serious 
results follow. Plants, like some of the lower ani- 
mals, can endure greater changes of bodily tem- 
perature; but there is a high and a low limit beyond 
which they cannot pass and live. If the bodily 
temperature becomes either too high, or too low, 
life-activity ceases permanently. 

Seeds germinate better in a warm than in a cold 
soil. If the ground is too cold, they decay on 
account of germs that can work at a lower tem- 
perature. Some seeds sprout best at a temperature 
of nearly one hundred degrees F. Good results, 
however, follow with a soil temperature of 50 to 

75° F. 

For germination of seeds, and growth of young 
plants, it is necessary for the soil to be warm to a 
depth of a few inches only. As the plants grow 
larger and send their roots down deeper, then 



THE SOIL. 33 

there is a necessity for deeper soil warmth. If 
the soil were warm to a depth of several feet in 
early spring, before plants have time to send their 
roots down, a great amount of valuable plant food 
would be dissolved on account of the increased 
temperature of the water, and hence lost. So 
nature has provided that the soil be warmed down- 
ward only as fast as the roots of plants can use it. 

Soil in a natural state, such as that of a forest, 
has a most wonderful means of regulating its own 
temperature. Covered with a thick layer of leaves 
each autumn in our latitude, it is protected from 
sudden changes, both on account of the noncon- 
ducting property of the leaves themselves, and also 
of the confined air among them. Early spring 
plants have learned to grow there, even before the 
frost is quite all out of the ground, and blossom 
before the needed light for their full development 
is shut out by the dense foliage of mid-summer. 
Trees do not put forth their buds and leaves till the 
last trace of frost has left the ground and air. 
The ground is kept cold for their own good. 

Since plants do best in a warm soil, and one that 
does not admit of too sudden changes of temper- 
ature, it remains with the farmer to regulate the 
conditions which govern them. As heat is taken 
from the soil in evaporating water at its surface, 
it should be left in such a condition that as little 
evaporation takes place as possible. Every unit of 
heat spent in evaporating water leaves the soil just 



34 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

so much colder, and a consequent slower plant 
growth results. 

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND KINDS OF SOIL. 

Geologists inform us that the present crust of 
the earth has been a long time in the process of 
formation. Early rock-formations have been 
broken up and decomposed by later actions. 
Water, cold, heat, and glacial movements have 
been the great causes in breaking up the surface 
rocks and leaving them in a fit condition for the 
growth of plants. 

Soil, in order to yield its ingredients quickly as 
food for plants, must have its grains so fine 
that a great amount of surface is exposed for the 
combined action of roots and water. A cubic foot 
of solid stone might contain all the necessary food 
for plant growth, yet so little of its surface is 
exposed that only a small per cent, of it could be 
dissolved for a season's growth. By a very simple 
mathematical law, it can easily be found that the 
same cubic foot of stone, when broken into small 
pieces, will present, instead of six square feet of 
surface, several hundred; and, if reduced to parti- 
cles fine enough, such as that of most soils, several 
thousand square feet. 

This not only allows the roots to penetrate more 
easily, but the surface tension of the particles gives 
soil a greater water-holding capacity, one of its 
most valuable properties. The fineness and coarse- 



THE SOIL. 35 

ness, then, of the soil grains is one means of 
determining different kinds of soils. However, 
there are other things to be taken into considera- 
tion. 

Some rocks, such as granites, are so hard that, 
when ground to pieces, they are not easily reduced 
to a fine powder, but remain hard and sharp 
grains of considerable size. Such are sandy soils. 
Sand grains are not only comparatively large, but 
of such a nature that they are not readily dissolved; 
hence, they give up their food very slowly. Other 
rocks, such as limestone, and the clays, are easily 
reduced to a fine powder, forming soils of very 
small grains, with a great water-holding capacity. 

Soils are called sandy when a large per cent, of 
sand enters into their composition; and clay soils, if 
they are composed largely of clay. Where sand 
and clay are mixed, it gives a sandy clay, or a clayey 
sand according as the sand or the clay predominates. 

"Light" and "heavy" soils are terms applied on ac- 
count of the ease or difficulty with which they are 
worked, and not on account of weight. A sandy 
soil weighs more per cubic foot than a clay soil, but 
it is called a light soil on account of its loose texture; 
and a clay soil heavy on account of its stiffness. 

Humus soils are those composed mostly of decay- 
ing organic matter, the remains of plants and ani- 
mals. These soils predominate in regions where 
organic decomposition goes on but slowly. The 
best examples of humus soils are peat and black 



36 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

muck. These soils are such because of the great 
amount of water they contain, and of their anti- 
septic nature, shutting out those organisms which 
cause decomposition. They become very pro- 
ductive when drained, as this allows air and decom- 
position germs to enter them. 

It must be borne in mind that the humus soils 
are the most unstable. In the decay of the organic 
matter of which they are composed, part of the 
products go back to the earth as ash, and part as 
gases to the air from whence they came. All 
organic substances remain but a short time as such, 
then decompose into their original elements, to be 
again taken up and passed through the cycle of life. 

ELEMENTS COMPOSING THE SOIL. 

Each rock has its own particular composition, 
and the elements composing any single kind are 
so few in number that they are not adequate for 
the many demands of plants; but there has been 
such thorough grinding and mixing in the processes 
of soil-building that many different kinds of ele- 
ments have been brought together and can be 
found in almost all places. The elements compos- 
ing the soil rarely occur in a free state, but are 
usually combined with other elements to form com- 
pounds. Some of the most important elements 
are — oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, silicon, 
phosphorus, chlorine, calcium, aluminum, iron, 
sodium, magnesium, and manganese. 



THE SOIL. 37 

Oxygen occurs in the soil in a free state, and also 
combined with nearly all of the other elements. 
Combined with silicon it forms quartz, of which 
sand is made and which is so abundant all over the 
earth. Quartz is so abundant that it is estimated 
to compose nearly half the rocks of the earth. 

Hydrogen seldom, or never, occurs in a free 
state in the soil; but, combined with oxygen, forms 
the familiar compound water, which is absolutely 
essential at all times, and serves plant growth in 
many ways. 

Nitrogen, although so abundant in the air, occurs 
in very small quantities in the crust of the earth. 
It is a very essential soil ingredient when combined. 
It is brought and fixed in the soil through decay- 
ing organic matter, and by germs on the roots of 
plants of the pea family. It also occurs combined 
with sodium and potassium as nitrates, and is often 
applied in a pure state to the ground as a fertilizer. 
Nitrogen has very little attraction for the other 
elements and compounds, but the small germs 
growing on the roots of clover, peas, and beans 
have the power of extracting it from the air and 
fixing it as a compound in the soil. There it does 
a vast amount of good in replenishing the soil with 
new plant food. 

Carbon occurs in the soil mostly as a part of 
organic matter. It exists in the air combined with 
oxygen as the well known gas, carbon dioxide. 
In this form it is taken up by the leaves of plants, 



38 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

built into plant tissue, and passed on to animals. 
In the process of organic decay, carbon again 
unites with oxygen and passes back to the air. It 
also occurs as carbonates with some of the metals, 
such as calcium and magnesium. 

Iron occurs both in a free state and combined 
with some of the other elements, especially oxygen 
and sulphur. It is found widely distributed 
through all soils in such quantities that it is rarely 
necessary to apply it as a fertilizer. It does not 
enter to any great extent into the composition of 
plant tissue, but is thought by some to aid in the 
processes of growth. 

The other elements are found in the earth as 
compounds, and enter into plant structure. When 
they are lacking to any great extent it is necessary 
to supply them to the soil in some form or other. 

RELATION OF SOME SMALL ANIMALS TO THE SOIL. 

Besides giving up their bodies in decay to add to 
its richness, some animals do not a little in improv- 
ing the texture of the soil, and making it more 
open for the free circulation of air and water. 
Such animals are those that live in the ground 
permanently, or those that burrow into it for shel- 
ter. 

The crayfish, in many places, has the habit of 
digging deep holes in the ground, and bringing up 
the earth from a depth of several feet. This 
earth, or mud, is generally built into a sort of 



THE SOIL. 39 

tower at the entrance of the hole, but in time is 
knocked over and becomes mixed with the upper 
layers. Soil thus brought to the surface is fresh 
and productive, and takes the place of that which 
has become exhausted. 

The crayfish holes, too, benefit the soil. They 
permit a free circulation of air to greater depths 
than would otherwise be possible. The falling-in 
of their walls produces a loose column of earth 
down which the roots of plants easily grow for 
fresh supplies of food and water. 

Ants are very common as earth-mixing animals. 
A colony of ants will bring to the surface during a 
single season enough earth to form a mound several 
inches high, and two or three feet in diameter; — 
in many cases, they make much larger ones. They 
carry into their galleries animal and vegetable 
matter which finally decays and becomes a part of 
the soil. 

Some rodents, and other small fur-bearing ani- 
mals, dig in the ground not a little. The mole lives 
in the ground all the time, and its entire make-up 
is well suited to the life it leads. It tunnels the 
ground in every direction, making it loose and 
open for the free circulation of air and water. 
Gophers, mice, prairie dogs, and many such ani- 
mals dig in the ground more or less and do valu- 
able work in stirring the soil. 

The most valuable of all animals in soil-making 
is the common earthworm, or angleworm. It is a 



40 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

small creature, but such countless numbers are con- 
stantly at work, when the soil is moist enough and 
warm enough, that the amount of fresh soil brought 
to the surface by them annually is enormous. The 
earthworm burrows through the soil for the organic 
matter which it is able to get from it. In order to 
get the food from the soil, it takes the soil into its 
stomach. This process not only grinds the soil 
into finer pieces, but increases its richness. 

Bringing to the surface an amount of soil that 
can be easily measured, it has been definitely 
proved that the earthworm completely mixes and 
re-mixes the soil in a definite number of years. It 
can truly be said that this little animal is one of 
the farmer's best friends. 




j&- 



CHAPTER II. 
PLANTS. 

Plants have life and motion. Their struggle for existence. Their 
structure. How complex plants develop. Organs and func- 
tions. Why plants have so many roots and leaves. Structure 
and function of leaves. How a leaf works. Arrangement and 
shapes of leaves. The storing of food in plants. Importance of 
perfect seeds. Individual plants — Indian corn, potatoes, peas, 
and beans. 

Under the study of soil it was found that, during 
long ages, the earth has produced a layer of 
decayed and ground-up rock, varying in thickness 
from a few inches to several feet. This soil covers 
the face of the land and is the natural home of 
most plants. 

Some of the first and simplest forms of plants 
have always lived in water. They adopted this 
mode of living when the earth was new and before 
any soil was formed. Their food is dissolved in 
the water in which they live. In this manner of 
living, they simply float upon the water, a part of 
the plant being below the surface and a part of it 
above. Such plants as seaweeds of the oceans, 
and the small duck-weeds of our ponds have all 
the conditions necessary for plant growth and 
development. They have earthy material dis- 

41 



42 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

solved in the water, and free air and light above. 

The largest and most beautiful kinds of plants, 
however, cannot grow in this way because of the 
liquid and unstable condition of water. Water 
plants cannot raise their trunks and branches into 
the air, as oaks and cedars do, because they have 
no solid support for their roots. All they can do 
is to lie flat upon the water and float. 

The soil, then, is a more ideal home for plants 
than water is. In it they find food, and a firm 
anchorage for their roots, enabling them to raise 
their trunks high in the air, and spread their 
branches, making forms of symmetry and beauty. 
It is true that plants cannot move much when 
rooted to one spot, but food and drink come to 
them in ample quantities. Other conditions are 
such that they are able to grow into larger forms. 

PLANTS HAVE LIFE AND MOTION. 

Plants are to be thought of as living beings. 
They are just as much alive as animals, but, being 
of different structure, they manifest life in a differ- 
ent way. 

Though rooted to one spot, in most cases, yet 
plants do move. They not only move in the space 
in which they grow for a season, or number of 
seasons, but move from place to place. They do 
so for new food — much the same as animals do. 
Every breeze causes a part, or the whole, of a plant 
to move. Its leaves, branches, and stem are not 



PLANTS. 43 

aimlessly fluttering, swaying, and bending, but are 
changing their positions to get as much air and 
light as possible. Some plants, such as sunflow- 
ers and field peas, are great lovers of light. 
They bend the upper parts of their bodies toward 
the sun, and follow it in its daily course. They do 
this so that their leaves and blossoms may get a 
large amount of light and heat. Others, such as 
poplar trees, are so made that their leaves flutter 
in the slightest breeze, thus presenting first one 
side then the other, to the air and light. Such 
plants do not have as many leaves as those that 
have less movement. Each leaf does a large 
amount of work, hence there is a saving in the 
amount of exposed surface. 

Besides movement in one place, plants — such as 
ferns, Solomon's seal, blood-root, and many others, 
move slowly from place to place. They do so by 
means of their underground stems. Such stems 
grow horizontally in the ground in the direction of 
the most plentiful supply of food. At one end of 
the underground stem is a large bud. This bud, in 
growing, pushes continually forward, while the 
opposite end gradually dies away. All along the 
stem are lateral buds. These yearly send up 
branches or leaves for the necessary supply of air 
and light, and the production of seeds. Such 
plants are perennials, and live the longest; in fact, 
they practically never die, except in cases in which 
the underground stem is destroyed. They simply 



44 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

grow forward year after year, constantly adding 
new growth at one end and dying at the other. 

Such perennial underground stems can be found 
fresh and alive in the ground during winter. They 
afford excellent means for plant study during that 
season of the year when the whole face of the 
earth seems to be swept clear of all traces of life. 
A little digging in the earth in the right places, 
even when the ground is frozen solid, will reveal 
surprises of fresh and expanding buds of rare 
beauty and the richest colors. They can be placed 
in jars of earth in the house during the latter part 
of winter, when new growth will take place long 
before any signs appear out of doors. 

Then, too, plants, or rather their children, move 
from place to place by means of the many devices 
for scattering seeds. Plants must not only provide 
for their own life and growth, but also for their chil- 
dren. Seeds produced by a plant do not fall upon 
the ground where the parent plant stood, but are 
carried to new places. The soil which supplied the 
parent plant, especially if it be a plant which lives 
for many years, such as an oak or maple, has all it 
can do to supply nourishment for itself. The young 
seeds are sent away to new and unoccupied fields. 

THE STRUGGLE OF PLANTS FOR EXISTENCE. 

Plants have to struggle for life just as man and 
other animals do. It is a well-known fact that plants 
usually crowd one another. Thus none are as 



PLANTS. 



45 



large and perfect as they otherwise would be. In 
many cases, some are forced out of the race entirely 
and cease to be. The strongest and first in the 
field always win. This is one of the main prin- 
ciples in agriculture, one class of plants being given 
possession of the soil to the exclusion of others. 
Corn, potatoes, and like crops are plowed and cul- 







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RED CLOVER, TIMOTHY, OATS, AND WHEAT 



tivated after the plants start to grow, so that other 
plants cannot crowd in to take away a part of the 
light and food. In other words, cultivated plants 
do not have to use part of their strength in strug- 
gling with enemies. They are enabled to use all of 
it in growing larger and more perfect. 



46 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



Those of the same kind, too, struggle with each 
other. Each plant requires a certain amount of 
space and food for its complete development. 
When there are so many growing together that the 
space for each is very small, none grow to much 




AUTUMN CORN FIELD. 



size. The fruiting in such cases is imperfect or 
altogether wanting. Corn planted a few feet 
apart, and two or three stalks together, will grow 
from seven to twelve feet high, producing large and 



PLANTS. 47 

well-developed ears. When it is sowed as thick as 
wheat or oats, although no other plants grow with it, 
it will attain a height of but three or four feet, with 
but the indication of ears and no seeds at all on 
them. 

Plants require space in proportion to the size of 
the full-grown individuals. Large plants require 
much space, and small plants require little space. 
Thus clover, timothy and field peas are planted 
but a few inches apart because the full-grown 
plants are small and require little food and light. 
These plants, too, when started to grow in soil in 
which all weeds have previously been destroyed, 
so take possession that no weeds are allowed to 
grow. The reason for this is that most of the air 
and light are shut out. As soon as the ripened 
crop is removed, thousands of weeds spring up, 
showing that the seeds were there waiting for an 
opportunity to germinate. 

Plants cannot be considered as having the power 
to reason, yet they spend no energy in germinating 
when the conditions are such that growth would be 
impossible. They behave in many other ways just 
as wonderful as this. 

STRUCTURE OF PLANTS. 

Like animals, plants are either simple or complex 
in structure. A simple organism is one in which 
the life processes are carried on in a single cell, or 
a few united cells. A good example of a cell is the 



48 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



egg of a bird or of an insect. Some of the simplest 
plants resemble very much the soft egg of an 
insect. All the life-activities are carried on by the 




HAY CUTTING AND STACKING. 



whole mass. They have no special organs, such as 
roots for drinking and leaves for breathing. The 
single cell is roots, leaves, stem, and branches all 
in one. Any and all parts of the plant body eat, 



PLANTS. 49 

drink, and digest at the same time. No one part 
seems to be different from or better than another. 

With plants of a more complex nature, there are 
special organs for the production of seeds, and from 
these new plants grow. Simple plants are pro- 
duced by the simple cell dividing into two parts. 
Each part becomes a perfect plant and looks just 
like the parent cell. By and by these two divide in 
the same manner, giving rise to four plants. 
These four again divide, giving rise to eight plants, 
and so on. An infinite number might thus come 
into existence were it not for the fact that many 
are destroyed, and many more die from the lack 
of food and other things necessary for such a life. 

Most of the very simple plants live either in 
water, or on substances where a great deal of 
water is present. If from any cause the moisture 
disappears, the plants cease to grow; but most of 
them have the power of reviving on the return of 
the supply of moisture. 

HOW COMPLEX PLANTS DEVELOP. 

Complex organisms are those that have special 
organs set apart for special purposes. Thus, 
instead of drinking in water all over their surfaces, 
as the simple plants do, complex plants have roots, 
by means of which they drink. These roots are 
especially fitted to do that work, and they do it 
well because they have few other burdens imposed 
upon them. Instead of breathing with the whole 



50 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

body, higher plants have organs especially fitted 
for that work. And, instead of dividing and break- 
ing to pieces in order to produce new plants, those 
of complex structure have special organs for the 
production of seeds. These seeds germinate and 
become new plants without any disturbance to the 
parent plant. 

Complex plants might be compared to a civilized 
community. There each person does some partic- 
ular thing instead of everything necessary to life. 
The baker can bake good bread because he has all 
his time and strength for that one thing, and the 
tailor can make good clothes for the same reason. 
The same is true of the higher plants. Leaves can 
breathe well for the plant because they give all 
their time and strength to that one office. 

Simple plants can be compared to a savage com- 
munity where every man is everything — carpenter, 
tailor, shoemaker, butcher. Nothing in such a 
community is done well because there are so many 
different things for each man to do. Because of 
this division of labor, complex plants are usually 
the largest and finest types. 

Cells form tissue, and tissue forms organs. One 
of the main differences, then, between a very sim- 
ple plant and a complex one, is that the simple 
plant consists of a single cell, and the complex plant 
consists of a very great number of cells constructed 
into tissue, and the tissue constructed into organs. 

Plant cells can easily be seen with a low-power 



PLANTS. 51 

microscope in the thin, transparent tissue peeled 
from an onion. Cells large enough to be seen with 
the naked eye can be separated from the pulp of 
an orange. 

ORGANS AND FUNCTIONS — ROOTS. 

Plants drink with their roots. All living things 
require water, and plants are no exception to this 




HAY STACKS. 



rule. In fact, plants require more water for growth 
than animals do. The roots of a plant not only 
drink for it, but they hold it fixed to one spot, so 
that it may grow up into abundance of air and 
light. They keep its position against the wind and 
other things that tend to destroy it. 

One part of a plant has a natural inclination for 
light, hence, it grows upward. The other part has 
an inclination for the soil and darkness; hence, it 
grows downward. Roots grow in all directions in 



52 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

the soil, which is the great storehouse for water 
supply. It was formerly thought that plants drink 
in water with their leaves, but it has lately been 
proved that this is not the case. Plants will grow 
and mature without any water touching their 
leaves. This is so in dry regions, where irrigation 
is used to supply water. In irrigation the ground 
is flooded a few inches deep at stated times so that 
the roots are supplied with water. None touches 
the leaves or blossoms. Abundant crops are har- 
vested without the fall of a single rain upon the 
leaves of the plants. Similar methods are used in 
the growing of potted plants. 

Roots penetrate the soil, pushing their sensitive 
tips among rocks, pebbles, and soil grains. The 
growing end of the root is the part that does the 
most drinking. The older part carries the water to 
the main body of the plant, which circulates it as 
sap. The sensitive ends of the roots are covered 
with fine hairs which grow out in every direction, 
taking up all food within their reach. They have 
great power of attracting water to themselves on 
account of their small size. The smaller the size 
of an object, the greater in proportion to its mass 
is its power of surface tension for the attraction of 
water. The little hair-like roots are constantly 
dying. New ones immediately grow out to take 
their places, so that all the small spaces in the soil 
are visited in their search. 

Plants get far more substance from the air 



PLANTS. 53 

through their leaves than they do from the ground 
through their roots. The substances taken up by 
the roots are very essential, though small in amount. 
Water in the soil contains dissolved substances 
which are taken up and used by plants. They 
have the power of selection, to a certain extent, and 
exclude some things which are not conducive to 
growth. Some things, however, are taken into the 
plant structure by the roots which either retard 
growth or cause the plant to die. Common salt, 
for instance, when dissolved in water will kill most 
plants very quickly. It can be seen from this that 
right kinds of food should be in the soil, and that 
injurious substances should not be, if strong and 
vigorous plants are to be grown. Certain elements 
are necessary for the growth and development of 
a plant. If they cannot be secured, the plant will 
die. 

WHY PLANTS HAVE SO MANY ROOTS AND LEAVES. 

All plant food must be dissolved in water before 
it can be taken up by the roots. They have not 
the power of eating solid food as animals have. 
Instead of one large mouth, they have thousands of 
small mouths. These mouths are so small that 
they cannot be seen with the naked eye, hence 
solid food cannot enter them. Then, too, the food 
in passing up the stem and out to the leaves 
through the branches does not flow through a 
large tube like the digestive tract of an animal. It 



54 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

must pass through very fine, hair-like tubes, and 
among closely packed cells; hence, it could not 
possibly penetrate except in a dissolved condition. 

This is the reason that plants have so many roots 
and leaves. The many small mouths make up a 
sum equal to one large one. An animal has one 
mouth, which serves the double purpose of eating 
and drinking. A plant has thousands of little 
mouths for eating, and thousands of still a differ- 
ent kind for drinking. A plant may have a dozen 
of its mouths completely destroyed, and still have 
enough left to eat and drink with. It is quite 
necessary for them to have so many mouths. 
They cannot move about, and the food in both air 
and soil is so widely scattered, and in such small 
quantities in any one place, that they could not 
gather in a sufficient supply if they were not thus 
provided. 

The roots of plants are great lovers of water. 
Since it is their office to supply the plant with this 
necessary liquid, and in large quantities, too, they 
seem to know where it is, and grow in that direc- 
tion. There is always water in some place in the 
ground. This is proved from wells in which water 
stands at various levels during the entire year. 
Besides, there is water held everywhere by the sur- 
face tension of soil grains. It never escapes, except 
by evaporation at the surface, and when it is taken 
up by the roots of plants. Plants, trees especially, 
growing near wells, sometimes almost fill up the 



PLANTS. 55 

cavity by their roots extending in search of water. 
They not infrequently grow downward forty or 
fifty feet after penetrating the walls of a well. 

LEAVES — STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION. 

If it can be said that one part of a plant is more 
useful than another, then the most important part 
is the leaves. They grow upward and outward 
into the air and light. They spread their flat 
bodies into numberless shapes, and the most beau- 
tiful forms. The leaves of most plants are very 
thin, compared with their other dimensions. It is 
necessary that they should be, since their function 
is to gather air and light, and to evaporate water. 
During normal growth, there is a great deal of 
water evaporated. Since the amount depends 
upon the quantity in the soil which can be absorbed 
by the roots and sent up to the leaves, plants in 
very dry regions have very thick, fleshy leaves, 
which expose less surface compared with the bulk 
of the plant. Such, for instance, are the cacti, 
whose native home is the dry, arid region of west 
central United States. 

Some forms of the cactus plant have no true 
leaves at all. The large, green, fleshy stalk per- 
forms the functions of both leaves and stem, and 
acts also as a water reservoir from one rainy season 
to another. If these plants had thin and highly 
divided leaves, so much surface would be exposed 
that evaporation would carry away the water too 



56 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

quickly, leaving them to wither and die. Hence, 
plants in different climates and locations so shape 
their leaves as best to fit them for life and growth 
under the imposed conditions. 

That leaves do evaporate water may be verified 
by placing a glass jar over growing leaves. Drops 
of water can soon be seen collecting on the inside 
of the vessel. One who has never looked into the 
matter will be surprised at the very great amount 
of water evaporated by a single leaf during a day 
of active life under good growing conditions. The 
reason that the amount of water evaporated by 
leaves of plants is not appreciated, is because it 
passes into the air in the form of an invisible 
vapor. Knowing, however, that a small potted 
house plant, with only a few leaves, easily drinks a 
pint of water each day, it will be readily perceived 
that, in proportion, many hundreds of pints must be 
drunk up and given off by the thousands of leaves 
of some of the larger plants, such as trees. Since 
the leaves of plants require so much water for 
evaporation, it is quite essential to cultivate the 
soil so as to keep as much water as possible in store 
for them during the growing season. 

HOW LEAVES DECOMPOSE AND REBUILD. 

It has been mentioned that water drunk in by 
the roots of plants and sent to the leaves, takes 
certain earthy material in solution with it to be 
built into the structure of the plant. Water has 



58 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

other parts also to play, and the leaf is the organ 
in which the wonderful work goes on. Water 
consists of hydrogen and oxygen strongly bound 
together. The leaf has the power of breaking 
them apart, and combining them with carbon to 
form starch, sugar, fat, and other substances com- 
posed of these three elements — carbon, hydrogen 
and oxygen. 1 The carbon is obtained from the 
carbonic acid gas of the air. Carbonic acid gas is 
composed of carbon and oxygen. Only a fraction 
of one per cent, of the atmosphere consists of car- 
bonic acid gas, yet there is always some floating 
everywhere, and the leaves struggle hard to get 
every molecule that passes. 

There is in every living leaf an active, green sub- 
stance called chlorophyl. It has the power, under 
the influence of sunlight, to break-up water and 
carbonic acid gas and form them into starch. 
The starch is changed into similar compounds with 
a different proportion of the atoms of carbon, 
hydrogen, and oxygen. The leaf, then, is the fac- 
tory in which organic material is made; chlorophyl 
is the machinery, and sunlight is the motive power 
that does the work. Organic compounds — or the 
compounds of carbon — can always be recognized 
from the fact that, on being heated sufficiently, a 
black, charred mass remains. The charred mass is 
carbon taken from the atmosphere by the growing 

J The formula for starch is C 6 H 10 O 5 , and for sugar C 12 H 22 11 . 



PLANTS. 59 

plant in the form of a gaseous compound. When, 
however, charcoal is raised to the kindling point, it 
burns, or oxidizes, and returns again to the atmos- 
phere whence it came. 

Besides starchy substances, leaves build up 
another substance called albumen. It contains not 
only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but an addi- 
tional element — nitrogen. The nitrogen is not 
taken from the air directly, but is brought up 
from the earth by the roots as a nitrate dissolved 
in water. There is far more nitrogen than any 
other substance in the air, yet leaves do not have 
the power of absorbing it. Nitrogen is very 
essential in the formation of albuminous sub- 
stances, so that soils poor in its compounds yield 
very light crops of certain kinds of plants. Some 
plants — the seeds especially — are richer in albumen 
than others, and of course require more nitrogen in 
the soil. The sticky part of wheat flour is albu- 
men, and there is a larger proportion of it in the 
grains of wheat than in Indian corn. Hence a 
good wheat-growing soil must necessarily be differ- 
ent in composition from soil in which corn is best 
grown. Wheat grows well in soil where clover was 
grown the previous season. The roots of clover 
have the especial power of extracting free nitrogen 
from the air and fixing it as nitrates in the soil, 
whence the wheat plants take it up and build it into 
albumen of the seeds. 



60 LIFE ON THE FARM. 



HOW A LEAF WORKS. 

There is busy work, and there are complex 
changes going on in leaves during the day while 
the sun shines. As soon as compounds are formed 
in the leaves, they are carried away by the circula- 
tion of the sap to all parts of the plant, to be built 
into tissue. Starch is not soluble, but sugar is; so 
the starch is transformed into sugar and carried by 
the sap to the places where most needed, and there 
changed back again to starch, cellulose, fat, gum, 
or some other similar compound. At night, of 
course, when there is no light, starch-building 
ceases, and the leaves stop taking in carbonic acid 
gas; but, as with animals, vital activity never 
entirely ceases so long as there is any life. During 
the night rest of plants there is a process, though 
less active, going on in the leaves similar to the 
breathing of animals, in which oxygen is taken in 
and carbonic acid gas given off. 

It may be well to add here that "there can be no 
life without a peculiar substance called protoplasm. 
It is called by some " the physical basis of life." 
Protoplasm is a watery, transparent, jelly-like sub- 
stance, very plastic, and always in motion. It is 
composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, 
and sulphur. It is the basis of animal life as well 
as of plant life. Plants build organic substances 
out of inorganic material, while animals consume 
or destroy such substances. From this it is very 



PLANTS. 61 

evident that plants appeared first upon the earth, 
and animals afterwards. Animals cannot exist 
without previous plant life. ' It is true that some 
animals eat nothing but flesh, or other animals; 
but all animal life would soon disappear from the 
face of the earth if there were no plants from 
which they could get the organic material. 

The leaves of plants get most of the material for 
plant structure from the atmosphere, and only a 
small amount from the soil. It would appear, 
then, that the farmer need care little about the soil 
in which plants are grown; but the substances in 
the soil are absolutely necessary. Besides, the soil 
costs money, while the air is free to all. In the 
burning of a stove two things are necessary — fuel. 
and oxygen of the air. The fuel costs money, 
but the oxygen comes floating in without price. 
Nearly twice as much oxygen as fuel is used in the 
act of combustion. If it had to be paid for at the 
same rate as fuel, modern house heating would be 
very expensive. It is likewise true of ourselves, 
and the animals we raise — the food costs labor and 
money, but the large amount of oxygen costs noth- 
ing. So it is with plants — carbonic acid gas comes 
free, but land is scarce and high-priced. Besides, 
the air can never be exhausted of its supply, for all 
burning and decay constantly return enormous 
quantities of this gas to the atmosphere, to be used 
over and over again. 



62 LIFE ON THE FARM. 



ARRANGEMENT AND SHAPES OF LEAVES. 

Leaves are arranged in various ways on the 
plant. Whatever the mode may be, it is always 
the best way of getting the greatest supply 
of air and light. Some are arranged in circles 
around the stem, the largest being at the bottom, 
and the others growing smaller toward the top. 
This arrangement is similar to that of the petals of 
the rose, and for that reason is called the rosette 
type. The mullein, garden cabbage, and bell- 
flower are good examples of this type. With such 
plants the lowest leaves are not only the largest, 
but their leaf stalks are the longest, pushing out so 
as not to be shaded by the ones above. Instead of 
growing out directly beneath the ones above, they 
grow between them, thus securing a position where 
nearly all of the leaf is in full light. 

Another type of leaf arrangement similar to the 
rosette is that of many climbing vines, the redbud 
of the pea family, and many other plants. In this 
type the leaves are placed very much the same as 
the shingles on the roof of a house. When the 
plant is in full foliage, they will actually shed water 
during a light shower. This arrangement is such 
that the spaces between the upper leaves let light 
fall upon the leaves below. It is thought by some 
that this habit, together with that of all kinds of 
plants whose leaves slope outward and downward, 
is for the purpose of carrying the water of rains 



PLANTS. 63 

away from the central part of the plant to the outer 
ends of the roots. In the rosette type, most of the 
water is directed down the central stem. The 
leaves of a great many plants slope inward and 
downward, directing the water falling upon them 
to the central stem and roots. Indian corn and 
cabbage are good examples of this kind. 

Nature always fits a plant to meet the conditions 
of its surroundings; so, it must be that some plants 
need most water for the central roots, and others 
need it for the outer ones. 

Looking up into almost any tree, one will find 
few leaves around the central stem and branches, 
but very many on the outer twigs. The reason for 
this is the same as in the other cases given — the 
struggle for light and air. If many leaves were to 
grow within the circle of the outer ones, so much 
light would be shut out that but little work could 
be done by them. This mode of leaf position 
is particularly noticeable in the elm, the leaves 
of this tree not only being on the outermost 
twigs, but the greatest number on the topmost 
branches, giving that tree its decidedly character- 
istic shape. 

THE NUMBER AND PARTS OF LEAVES. 

Another feature of leaves which might be classed 
under arrangement is that of numbers. Each plant 
requires a certain amount of work to be done for 
its development, and it takes a certain amount 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 

~t> of exposed leaf-surface to 
gather in the necessary en- 
ergy. So a plant produces 
few or many leaves, accord- 
ing to the size of the leaves. 
If the leaves are small, a 
greater number are re- 
quired; if they are large, 
few are nec- 
essary. The 
willow pro- 
duces a 
great many 
small leaves, 
while the 
squash vine 
supports 
only a few 
very large 
ones. But, 
in each case, 
the leaf sur- 
face is com- 
mensurate 
with the size 
of the plant. 
Leaves as- 
sume almost 
an endless 

• . ' ' . r 

LEAVES AND BLOSSOMS. Variety Ol 




PLANTS. 65 

shapes, but each shape, no doubt, is for some defi- 
nite purpose. A leaf may have three parts — blade, 
leafstalk, and stipules. The stipules are small leaf- 
like appendages at the base of the leafstalk. In 
a great many cases there are no stipules, the 
leaf consisting of blade and petiole only. In a 
great many more cases, the petiole and stipules are 
both wanting, the leaf consisting of blade only. 
The blade is the essential part of the leaf, and 
where the leafstalk is wanting, the blade is attached 
directly to the stem at one end, or, sometimes, 
the stem goes right through it, either at the 
center or at some other point. The petiole is a 
device for carrying the leaf into free air and light, 
so its length varies according to circumstances. 
Some leaves turn very easily upon their petioles, 
fluttering with the slightest breeze, and thus secure 
every stray molecule of passing carbonic acid gas. 

Leaf blades are either entire, or divided into 
parts. A leaf that is smooth around its edge is 
called a simple leaf. With some leaves, the mar- 
gin is indented very much like the teeth of a saw. 
Others have still deeper notches, forming what is 
known as a lobed leaf. In another class of leaves, 
the divisions extend clear to the midrib, forming 
a compound leaf. 

Often a compound leaf is mistaken for several 
simple leaves, but it can be distinguished in two 
ways. That part which falls off in the autumn is 
the whole leaf, and new buds for the next year's 



66 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

growth develop at the base of the leafstalk. The 
divisions, or leaflets, of a compound leaf do not, in 
falling, separate from the main stem, which is, in 
fact, the midrib; and no buds develop at the bases 
of the petioles of the leaflets. 

Examples of compound leaves are the walnut, 
rose, and locust. Some compound leaves have 
their leaflets compound. These leaves are called 
doubly compound. Some are even trebly com- 
pound. Examples of lobed leaves are the oak, 
maple, and water-melon vine; of toothed leaves, 
the elm, willow, and peach; of simple leaves, or 
entire, smooth margins, Indian corn, redbud, and 
plantain. 

Leaves are built upon a framewo^: of veins. 
Generally, there is one large vein in the middle of 
the leaf, called the midvein, and many small 
veins issue from it, making it resemble a feather. 
In others there is a network of small veins on 
each side of the midvein. The veins in many 
leaves all radiate from one point, which is the 
point of attachment of the petiole to the blade, pro- 
viding there is a petiole present. A good example 
of the last is the common garden nasturtium. 

Compound leaves take their shapes from the 
style of venation. If the small veins spring out 
along the midvein, the result is a compound leaf 
like that of the sumac or tomato; but if they all 
radiate from one point, the result is a compound 
leaf like that of the chestnut or clover. 



PLANTS. 



67 



Much could be said about divided leaves, for the 
varieties are endless, but the common principle 
underlying all is that the more divisions a leaf has, 
the more surface there is exposed compared with 
the mass. Some plants grow, or their ancestors 




THRESHING WHEAT. 



have grown, in locations where there was so much 
competition among the leaves for air and light that 
a leaf with an entire margin could not secure 
enough food and energy to carry on the necessary 
work, so it had to divide its blade to accomplish 
the result. 



G8 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

The author has found on sassafras, and on black- 
berry vines, in very shaded locations, no less than 
twenty different kinds of leaves, varying from sim- 
ple through lobed to compound, on a single, indi- 
vidual plant. Thus it has come about, through 
struggle for existence, that plants change their 
structure and habits to make a living for them- 
selves and to propagate their kind. It is much the 
same with lower animals and with human beings. 
Men will do all kinds of work, and endure great 
hardships, in order to provide for themselves and 
their children. 

STORING OF FOOD IN PLANTS. 

Under the discussion of the work done by 
leaves, it was stated that they take gases from the 
air, and mineral substances from the earth, and 
manufacture them into organized substances. A 
part of these substances goes to build up the plant 
structure itself, but . in the late stages of plant 
growth, the best and richest materials are stored 
away in different parts of the plant for the begin- 
ning of the next year's growth, or for the starting 
of new plants. When a new plant starts into life, 
or when the same plant renews its life and growth 
after the cessation of activities during winter, there 
must be something for it to start on before leaves 
are put forth to gather in and make food. 

With plants that do not annually die down to the 
ground, new buds can be found at the base of the 



PLANTS. 69 

leaf stalks in autumn which will give rise to new 
leaves the next year. These buds are stored with 
food. The food is built into them during the sum- 
mer, and an additional supply is drawn from the 
old leaves just before they fall off for the winter. 
Some food, also, for the starting of new leaves is, 
no doubt, stored at other places in the plant body, 
either in the cells or among them; and, no doubt, a 
large quantity in the roots; for, when sap begins to 
flow in spring, it contains rich food. The sugar 
maple, and hickory are good examples of trees in 
which much sugar is present in the first flow of 
sap. In the hickory, there is such a large propor- 
tion of sugar that it exudes as a thick syrup, with 
the sweetness and consistency of honey. This food 
goes to start new leaves before they are able to 
work for themselves; but as soon as the store of 
food is used up, and they have unfolded to the air 
and light, mineral substances rise with the sap and 
the building process begins. 

Plants that die down to the ground annually, and 
renew their growth from bulbs, tubers, and under- 
ground stems, store up food in these to be kept 
overwinter, or during a dry season; and from these 
the new plants draw supplies until they are large 
enough to have sufficient leaf and root surface 
started to take care of themselves without any 
help. Examples of these are bulbs of lilies and 
onions, tubers of potatoes and artichokes, and 
underground stems of Solomon's seal and black- 



70 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

berry vin.es. Some of the bulbs and tubers are rich 
in the starchy foods. 

Flowering plants, in their native state, bear seeds 
from which new plants start. Those, of course, 
which have bulbs, tubers, and underground stems, 
have a double advantage — for they start their 
young from seeds as well as from these under- 
ground parts. Seeds are storehouses for food of 
the highest type. 

The final total energy of a plant goes for the 
production of seeds. It labors day in and day out, 
from germination to maturity, to gather and organ- 
ize rich materials to be stored in its seeds for the 
production of new generations. Annuals exhaust 
all their energy and die as soon as their seeds are 
matured. Most of them leave dry, withered stalks 
for an early and rapid decay; because, practically, 
all nutritious substances from roots and branches 
were withdrawn at, and before death, for the final 
and complete development of the seeds. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF PERFECT SEEDS. 

Of all the parts of a plant that contain food, 
seeds are the richest with respect to their size. 
There is very little water in them — the food is con- 
solidated and rich. 

There is very little substance but water taken 
from the soil during the early growth of plants, 
but when the seeds begin to form and ripen, the 
richest ingredients are called for. It is then that 



PLANTS. 



71 



the quality of the soil is tested; and, if it be poor, 
one heavy crop of seeds will so exhaust it that a 
crop of the same kind the succeeding year will not 
be worth the harvesting. 

Weeds, of course, rob the soil for their seeds; 
but, since they either fall upon the ground or are 




MEASURING WHEAT AT THE THRASHER. 



plowed under, the rich substances they take from 
the soil are returned to it again. Useful, seed- 
bearing crops are usually taken away from the soil 
on which they were grown, little or none of their 
substance ever being returned. In this way soil, 
whether it be rich or poor, will, sooner or later, 



72 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

lose its vitality and refuse to yield harvests to the 
cultivator. When a harvest of seeds is taken from 
a field, its equivalent in some form should be 
returned if the quality of the soil is to be retained. 

The composition of seeds and other parts of 
plants will be taken up in another chapter, but let 
it be noticed here, that seeds, together with bulbs 
and tubers, are the great sources from which 
human beings derive food. Without them, life as 
it now is would be impossible. 

If it can be said that plants desire, it is not their 
desire to produce seeds and tubers for man to use, 
but for the propagation of their kind. In fact, 
they take all precaution to prevent their being 
eaten; — the hard shells of nuts, the thorny covering 
of some, the repellant taste of the outer coats of 
others, and a hundred other devices making them 
difficult to secure. Plants, having no particular 
device for the protection of their seeds against 
animals, produce so many to each plant that a few 
always escape and find their way to suitable soil 
for germination. 

Man, with machinery, does what he likes with 
plants. Those kinds which he finds rich in starch, 
sugar, oils, or albumen, he cultivates to the exclu- 
sion of other plants. Under cultivation, there is 
no longer a struggle for existence — the farmer with 
his machinery protects and aids them so much, that 
plants can use their entire energy in producing 
more food. Thus plants, which in the wild state 



PLANTS. 73 

produced only a few small seeds or bulbs, in a culti- 
vated state produce many large ones. Seeds whose 
coverings offer almost complete resistance to the 
teeth of animals, offer none to the teeth of mod- 
ern machinery, and are converted into numerous 
kinds of wholesome and nutritious foods. 



INDIVIDUAL PLANTS — INDIAN CORN. 

Indian Corn, or Maize, belongs to the family of 
grasses. This can easily be seen by a close obser- 
vation of the leaves and stalk. It will be found 
that the veins run parallel, and that the stalk is 
jointed like that of grass. The stalk is somewhat 
tubular, the outer body being hard and tough, giving 
it great strength. The inside is made up of a soft, 
cellular, pithy mass with parallel, fibrous strings, 
running lengthwise from joint to joint, similar to 
the veins in the leaves. 

The corn plant grows from six to fifteen feet high. 
It is from a light or yellowish green to a dark green 
in color during the growing season, the composition 
of the soil and the amount of rain-fall making the 
difference in color. When the ripening of the 
grain begins, and the food stuffs are withdrawn 
from the stalks and leaves, the color changes to 
yellow and brown, with sometimes a tinge of 
orange and red. 

The plant has but one central shaft, there being 
no branches. The leaves are arranged alternately 



74 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



on the stem, and are attached to it directly, with- 
out any petioles. They are long and ribbon-like, 
with a very heavy midrib through the center from 
the base to the tip. They arch upward in a grace- 
ful curve, the inner part 
sloping downward to 
the central shaft, and 
the outer part sloping 
downward and away 
from it. The attach- 
ment around the base 
is such as to give them 
a trough, so that part 
of the rainfall is carried 
to the stalk to find its 
way to the roots of the 
plant, and the rest is 
directed away. The 
leaves wave under the 
influence of the wind in 
ti a plume-like fashion, 
^J&k^and the plant as a 
whole bends and nods 
with every passing 
breeze. 
The blossom of corn is divided into two parts, 
one part being at the very top of the plant, and the 
other part about half way down the stalk. The 
part of the blossom at the top is the pollen-bear- 
ing or staminate part, and the part down on the 




CORN GROWING. 



PLANTS. . 75 

stalk is the pollen - receiving, or pistillate part. 
Sometimes there are two, three, or more of the lat- 
ter, but generally only one. They are called the ears 
of corn, while the part at the top is called the tassel. 

The tassel bears the pollen, which falls upon the 
ear or is carried to it by the wind. The ripened 
ear has a long, cylindrical, rough, woody core called 
the cob. During the early stages of the ear, the 
cob is green and soft; connected with it in rows are 
long, white, or green threads, commonly called 
silks (but in reality the pistils of the blossom), 
which extend several inches beyond the outer end 
of the cob. These silks, or pistils, receive the fall- 
ing pollen and bring it back to their points of 
attachment to the cob, at which places it produces 
the seeds, or grains, of corn. As soon as the 
grains are mature, the silks die and turn brown. 

The whole ear of corn is covered completely by 
layers of tightly-fitting leaves, similar to the leaves 
of the plant. This part is called the husk and 
must be removed before the grains can be shelled 
from the cob. The husk is a protection for the 
grains against the weather and the attacks of ani- 
mals. There is a similar covering around grains of 
wheat and oats, but in those cereals there is a 
separate husk for each seed. 

PLANTING AND HARVESTING CORN. 

Indian corn, in the central states, is usually 
planted in May and June, though sometimes as 



fgm 




PLANTS. 77 

early as April, and as late as July. After the 
ground is plowed and harrowed, it is planted in 
rows about four feet apart, the plants being from 
one to two feet apart in the row. It is planted 
with corn drills which plant one or two rows at a 
time, according to the style of the drill. Those 
which plant two rows at a time are drawn by two 
horses, and those which plant only one require but 
one horse. 

The seeds germinate in a few days, sending up a 
single blade, as all grasses do, the seed consisting 
of but one cotyledon. As it grows upward, it puts 
out leaves first on one side then on the other, so 
that there are two rows of leaves up the stalk on 
opposite sides; but, as has been said before, these 
are arranged alternately on the stem. Last of all 
the tassel and ears appear; and as soon as the 
grains in the ear are mature the whole plant dies, 
from the tassel to the lowest roots. 

Most species of the grass family are provided 
with bulbs or underground stems, and spring up 
each season from them; but the corn plant has no 
such underground parts. New corn plants ger- 
minate from seeds only. It is the same with wheat 
and oats. Corn, however, has a species of roots 
rarely found in other cultivated plants. They are 
called aerial roots. They grow out in circles near 
the base of the stalk, and are called brace-roots be- 
cause they brace the stalk of corn against the force 
of the wind. They appear just before the plant is 



78 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

full grown, because, with the added weight of the 
heavy ear, there is then the most need of support. 

Weeds soon spring up in a corn field on account 
of the plants being so far apart; so incessant culti- 
vation is necessary to destroy them. Cultivation 
not only keeps down the weeds, but also keeps the 
soil in a condition for holding moisture. Corn, of 
all plants, requires a great amount of water for its 
growth and development. It should be plowed 
four or five times during a season, best while the 
plants are small, so that the roots may not be inter- 
fered with. After the plants are large enough to 
completely shade the ground, further cultivation is 
unnecessary; for the shade not only prevents weeds 
from growing, but also keeps in check a too rapid 
evaporation of soil moisture. 

Corn is harvested, or gathered, in late autumn, 
or at any time during the winter. Some husk it in 
the field, and others cut and gather it, husk and 
all, leaving the husking till the corn is needed for 
the market or for feeding. The leaves of corn be- 
ing of the same nature as hay, the stalks are some- 
times cut just before frost and made into shocks in 
the field or placed in barns. In this form it is 
known as fodder, and makes a good, rough feed for 
cattle and horses during autumn and winter. The 
stalks are not eaten, being too tough and coarse. 
Owing to its bulky nature, corn fodder is never 
shipped away to market, but is fed on the farm 
where it is raised. 



PLANTS. 79 

The grains, or seeds, of corn, are the most useful 
part of the plant. They are rich in starchy matter, 
and, for that reason, are used largely in fattening 
animals for market. Corn being rich in starch, 
and that being easily converted into similar organic 
compounds, is manufactured into many different 
things. The most common are corn-starch, syrup, 
and alcohol. One firm has succeeded in producing 
nearly fifty different and distinct substances from 
corn, among them being a substitute for India rub- 
ber, which is almost as good as the genuine article 
from the India rubber tree. 

It would be almost an endless task to describe 
all the virtues of this wonderful plant, so the high 
tribute paid it by the poet Longfellow is given 
below: — 

Day by day did Hiawatha 
Go to wait and watch beside it ; 
Kept the dark mold soft above it, 
Kept it clean from weeds and insects, 
Drove away, with scoffs and shoutings, 
Kagahgee, the king of ravens. 

Till at length a small green feather 
From the earth shot slowly upward, 
Then another and another, 
And before the summer ended 
Stood the maize in all its beauty 
With its shining robes above it, 
And its long, soft, yellow tresses ; 
And in rapture Hiawatha 
Cried aloud, "It is Mondamin! 
Yes, the friend of man, Mondamin!" 
Then he called to old Nokomis, 
And Iagoo, the great boaster, 



80 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

Showed them where the maize was growing, 
Told them of his wondrous vision, 
Of his wrestling and his triumph, 
Of this new gift to the nations, 
Which should be their food forever. 
And still later, when in Autumn 
Changed the long, green leaves to yellow, 
And the soft and juicy kernels 
Grew like wampum hard and yellow 
Then the ripened ears he gathered, 
Stripped the withered leaves from off them, 
As he once had stripped the wrestler, 
Gave the first feast of Mondamin, 
And made known unto his people 
This new gift of the Great Spirit. 

THE POTATO. 

The potato plant belongs to the nightshades, a 
family of plants containing poisonous principles. 
It is a near cousin to the common garden tomato. 
The potato is a native of Mexico and Central 
America, but has been introduced into and is now 
cultivated in many different countries and climates. 

The tuber, or swollen portion of the underground 
stem, is the part of t-he plant used for food. In its 
native state, the tuber of the potato is no larger 
than the plum or cherry, but by cultivation and 
selection it has increased to its present large 
dimensions. 

Scattered over the tuber are a number of buds, 
commonly called eyes, and from these buds new 
plants grow. 

In planting potatoes, the large ones are cut into 



PLANTS. 81 

several pieces, but each piece must contain an eye. 
Since the tubers grow and expand in the ground, 
they require a loose soil for a good crop. 

Potatoes are planted in rows about four feet 
apart so as to admit of cultivation; and the hills in 
each row are from two to three feet apart. The 
time for planting is from the final disappearance 
of frost from the ground until July, according to the 
variety. The early varieties mature, in central and 
northern United States, about the first of July; 
and the late varieties in September and October. 

The plant bears blossoms, and grows from two 
to four feet high, with a tendency to vine, or run 
along the ground; hence, the term potato vine. 
As soon as the blossoming is fully over, all of the 
nutritious substances of the upper part of the plant 
are withdrawn and stored in the tubers, the vines 
quickly withering till scarcely any trace of them 
can be found a few weeks later. Corn or sun- 
flower stalks have so much substance left in them 
that they exist a year or more after maturing; 
but not so with the potato vine. What little 
material is left in it soon decomposes and the 
products return to the air and soil. 

Like all tubers and bulbs, potatoes are composed 
largely of water, and must be kept in a temperature 
above freezing, for freezing renders them unfit for 
use as food. Corn, and most seeds, contain such a 
small percentage of water that freezing does not 
affect them. Bulbs and tubers, however, can be 



82 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

frozen solid without impairing their germinating 
powers or food properties, providing they be left 
in the ground till after thawing out. The soil 
seems to have virtue of such a nature as to with- 
draw the frost so gradually, and in such a manner 
as to revivify them. If this were not so, a great 
many of the most beautiful of wild plants would be 
destroyed by the deep soil-frosts of severe cold 
winters. 

The usual manner of keeping potatoes during 
winter is to place them in cellars or bins, or to 
cover them in the field in large heaps, first with a 
layer of straw, then with earth deep enough to keep 
out frost and shed rain. This is claimed to be 
one of the best ways of storing them. 

Potatoes are classed with the starchy foods, 
although less than one-fourth of their composition 
is starch. Three-fourths of the potato is water; 
so that there is but one-fourth solid food. 

Besides being used very extensively for food, the 
starch of the tuber is made into dextrin, grape 
sugar, and alcohol. 

The skin of the potato contains a poison, but this 
is destroyed by steaming or boiling. 

BEANS AND PEAS. 

There are many varieties of beans and peas, and, 
although they differ to some extent, yet they are 
very similar in their nature and growth. The most 
prominent marking of the large order to which 



PLANTS. 83 

these plants belong, is the seed pod. The bean or 
pea pod is in reality a transformed leaf. When a 
pod is broken open, laid out flat, and the seeds 
taken out, it resembles a leaf very much. The 
long, tough fiber along the back of the pod cor- 
responds to the mid-vein of the leaf, and the line 
along the front of the pod is the union of its two 
margins. . The fibers of green pods are called 
strings and must be removed before the pods are 
cooked for food. 

Beans and peas are good examples of the two- 
cotyledonous plants. That is, the seeds are in two 
parts, and in germination these two halves are 
lifted into the air above the ground to act both as 
leaves and a storehouse of supply, till the plants 
have enough roots and leaves to make a living for 
themselves. It will be noticed that the two cotyle- 
dons, or halves of the seed, turn green as soon as 
they reach the light and air, which means that 
they are endowed with chlorophyl and can manufac- 
ture protoplasm as well as supply it ready made. 
As soon as true leaves are developed, the cotyle- 
dons are absorbed by the plant and fall into disuse. 

Beans and peas grow rapidly, requiring but from 
six to ten weeks for growth and maturity; hence, 
they are planted from early spring till the middle 
of summer. They are annual plants and die away, 
root and stalk, as soon as the seeds ripen. 

The seeds germinate and spring up in a day or 
two when planted in warm, moist soil. They need 
but a thin covering of earth for germination. 



84 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

When covered too deeply, they decay in the earth 
and no crop results. They are planted either in 
rows for cultivation or sown thickly, as grass or 
wheat, so as to take full possession of the soil, and 
grow about as well in one way as the other. 

The crop is gathered and shelled from the pod 
by hand, or cut with a mowing machine, and 
threshed with a separator similar to the one used 
for wheat and oats. 

Some beans are picked before the seeds are ma- 
ture, the tender pods being cooked and used for food. 
In this green form they are known as string-beans. 

There are a great many kinds of beans and peas. 
Some are used as food for human beings and other 
kinds for live stock. The latter kind are fed very 
much as hay is — cattle, horses, and pigs eating 
them. They eat not only the seeds, but pods and 
leaves also. Beans and peas are rich in starch and 
albuminoids, the former producing fat, and the 
latter flesh, or lean meat; so that they are desir- 
able in fattening animals for market. 

All plants of this order not only produce seeds 
rich in albumen, or nitrogenous food, but they also 
have the power of extracting free nitrogen from 
the air and fixing it by means of their roots as 
nitrates in the soil, from whence other plants can 
draw supplies. They are able to do this through 
nitrifying germs growing in little knobs on their 
roots. For this reason such plants are considered 
beneficial to the soil and are often grown and 
plowed under as fertilizers. 



CHAPTER III. 
TREES. 

The study of trees important. Planting groves. Trees afford 
beauty, timber, and protection. Individual trees: — the elm, the 
sugar maple, the oak, the cotton wood, the hickory. 

At first thought it seems unnecessary to take up 
time under the subject of agriculture for the study 
of trees, but when viewed in its true and broadest 
sense, the study of trees commands a place of no 
small importance. It is a part of farm life that 
has generally been too much neglected, but which 
soon must become a serious study. 

When this country was first settled, it had the 
most magnificent forest areas of any part of the 
world. It was a matter of necessity, of course, to 
clear away a great part of these forests for timber 
and agricultural purposes. The latter half of the 
past century has witnessed not only a wholesale 
destruction of vast areas of forests, but also a 
waste of the timber. This has continued at such a 
rate that good timber is fast becoming very scarce. 
The loss of timber is not all the damage. It is a 
well know fact that forests, with the deeply pene- 
trating roots, and gigantic leaf surface for the 
evaporation of water, are great regulators of rain- 

85 



86 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



fall. They regulate the surrounding atmosphere 
by the enormous amount of water evaporated by 
their leaves, and by the absorption of heat neces- 
sary for tree growth. 




SOUTHERN PINES. 



TREES. 87 

The water evaporated by leaves keeps the air 
saturated. This moisture aids in the precipitation 
of rain. When, however, there are few trees to 
supply atmospheric moisture — since rainfall is de- 
pendent upon additional moisture carried by winds 
from the seas, long dry periods are likely to be 
experienced in certain sections during summer 
when rain is most needed. 

A forest gives out much moisture to the air 
by leaf evaporation, and holds back the water on 
the forest floor, so that it is given off gradually. 
This is an ideal condition. It is not the great 
amount of water falling upon the ground at one 
time that does most good, but the constant supply. 
A forest holds back the water in two ways: by 
shading the ground so that little evaporation takes 
place, and by retaining it among fallen dead and 
decaying leaves and branches. The latter not 
only has a tendency to produce frequent summer 
rains, but also prevents the rapid rushing away of 
heavy rains to cause floods. 

Trees are great barriers against scorching, hot 
winds in summer, and against strong, destructive 
winds coming at any time of the year. In the west- 
ern prairie states many groves have been planted 
purely as wind-breaks for farm buildings. They 
have proved to be very efficient in that respect. 
Besides, the people there are now able to use many 
of the trees for fuel and timber because of the 
necessary thinning as the trees grow in size. 



38 LIFE ON THE FARM. 



THE TLANTING OF GROVES. 



The planting of groves must now be taken up 
in nearly all sections of the United States to supply 
the deficiency caused by the wanton and ignorant 
destruction of trees which has taken place. Grove 
or forest planting will be a general good to the 
country at large, and a special good to those who 
plant them. It will be capital well invested. 

A cultivated forest, to be profitable, should be 
planted and tended much the same as a field of 
corn. The ground should be plowed and har- 
rowed late in autumn, and the seeds, or nuts, 
planted in rows from three to four feet apart so as 
to admit of cultivation for the first few years. The 
seeds should be planted in the fall of the year, 
because most kinds require the moisture and frosts 
of winter to render them capable of sprouting in 
the spring. This is nature's way of planting trees. 

In planting a few acres of trees on a farm, the 
kinds should be considered. It is always well to 
have a variety, but the greatest numbers should be 
those that have the greatest value, both for their 
wood and their fruit. A few years after planting 
the thinning out of every alternate tree is neces- 
sary, and a few years after that still more is 
required. The first thinnings, »of course, are small, 
but they have a market value, and can be used in 
various ways. For instance, the first thinnings of 
hickories are used as walking sticks, and always 



TREES. 89 

command a good price. The later thinnings — 
when the trees have attained a diameter of an inch 
or more — can be used for almost numberless pur- 
poses, both on the farm and in the factory. 

Such a cultivated grove will require some ground, 
but the poorest of land can be used. Land on 
which nothing else will grow will produce a good 
growth of trees with a little care. After the trees 
have attained some size, the field can be used as a 
pasture for live stock. Not much grass will grow 
on the ground, but the shade is of benefit during 
the hot summer months, and they afford protection 
against cold winds in winter. Pigs, especially, do 
well when raised on wood land. They not only 
like the shade, but find a considerable amount of 
food beneath and among the fallen leaves. They 
eat acorns very greedily. 

TREES AFFORD BEAUTY, TIMBER, AND PROTECTION. 

Besides the monetary value of a forest, it adds 
to the beauty of a farm. A solitary ornamental, 
shade, or fruit tree, is beautiful; but a forest or 
a grove has a charm which surpasses them all. 
There are few things more beautiful and more 
harmonious. A stroll through the woods in autumn, 
winter, spring, or summer is one of the most pleas- 
ant pastimes that can be taken by one who loves 
nature. 

Trees, whether solitary, in groups, or in a forest, 
impress us with their size, endurance, symmetry, 



90 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



and beauty. When other plants have yielded to 
frost and cold, and died away, trees stand proud 
and sublime against the strongest blasts of winter, 
raising: into the air their trunks and branches with 









| 








< 

IP? 


WtA 


mHri^mkMv 






:/■ 





COTTONWOOD TREE. OAK FOREST IN THE DISTANCE. 



TREES. 91 

mantles of snow and ice. Then comes the renew- 
ing of life-activities in spring, with the swelling and 
bursting of buds, and the display of the softest 
tints and colors. Summer brings its millions of 
leaves, its welcome shade, and its subdued colors. 
Most glorious of all are the radiant foliage color- 
ings of autumn, telling that the trees have fur- 
nished their season's work, and are ready for the 
long rest of winter. 

A small tract of woodland on a farm presents 
another advantage, and that is the number of birds 
that will be attracted by it. Birds love the shelter 
of trees for roosting and nesting, and will seek 
them wherever they can be found. 

During the nesting and breeding season, the 
parent birds supply their young with food from the 
immediate surroundings. The food carried to 
young birds consists mainly of soft-bodied insects, 
such as grubs and caterpillars, and these generally 
are the forms most destructive to crops. 

Birds, when undisturbed, as they would be in a 
standing grove of trees, love to build year after 
year in the same place. So, as the trees grow, the 
farm would have a constant natural exterminator 
at work against the enormous inroads of insects, 
and stronger and more sure than the best artificial 
means. 

Besides the good they do in keeping down the 
number of injurious insects, birds add to the cheer- 
fulness and beauty of every rural scene, with their 



92 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

joyful songs, gentle social influences, and beauti- 
ful plumage. 



INDIVIDUAL TREES. 

Since the subject of trees has become such an 
important study, it is well to know something about 
individual trees, so that their names and character- 
istics may become more familiar. 

It is no easy matter to say what trees are of the 
most importance, because that depends largely 
upon taste and the uses for which they are planted. 
A few of the common trees of central United 
States will be given here. 

THE ELM. 

The Elm Tree family is a large one, but its mem- 
bers have so many points in common that a descrip- 
tion of one will give a tolerably clear image of all. 

The common American elm may be taken as a 
type. This elm tree grows to a height of from 
fifty to more than one hundred feet. The bark is 
rough, and dark gray in color. The wood is red- 
dish brown, and rather soft in its nature, but diffi- 
cult to split on account of its interlacing fibers. 
For this reason the young trees are used for the 
hubs of wagon and carriage wheels. 

The elm is one of the easiest trees to identify 
because of its shape. It rises as one central shaft 
for a considerable distance, then divides into 



TREES. 



93 



several principal branches, and these again into 
smaller ones — all taking a decided upward direc- 
tion, making sharp 
angles with the main 
trunk and with each 
other. Very few 
branches assume a 
horizontal or droop- 
ing position, except 
the outer lowest 
ones. This upward 
tendency of all the 
branches gives the 
tree the general 
shape of a feather 
duster. 

All the branches 
of an elm tree are 
graceful in form 
throughout. They 
are not as pliant and 
tender as those of 
the willow, nor as 
rugged as those of 
the oak, but possess 
that unassuming 
grace so pleasing to 
the eye. 

Owing to the up- 
ward tendency of the the elm. box elder to the right. 




94 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

branches, most of the foliage is at the very top of 
the tree. In very few cases are there leaves at 
any other place. This is one of the features by 
means of which the tree can be so easily distin- 
guished. 

The leaves of the elm are arranged alternately, 
are rather rough on both sides, and have a notched 
or saw-toothed margin. The leaf can always be 
told from the fact that one side is always a little 
larger than the other. Strong side-ribs spring out 
all along the midrib, terminating in the margin. 
The leaf, as a whole, is strong and firm. 

The blossoms appear early in spring, and the 
seeds mature before the leaves are fully developed. 
A single tree bears an almost countless number of 
seeds, from which young elms readily grow. 

The roots of the elm are long and fibrous. They 
do not strike very deeply into the ground, but run 
near the surface in great numbers. Since they 
grow so near the surface and take up so much 
moisture, very little other vegetation can thrive 
near the tree; hence they require much room. 
With old trees, the large roots strike out above the 
ground for a few feet, giving the lower part of the 
trunk a very uneven appearance. 

The American elm should be planted for its 
beauty and shade. It is easy to start and very 
hardy, growing vigorously for nearly a hundred 
years. It is seldom attacked by insects; and its 
branches, though graceful and pliant, are so tough 



TREES. 95 

that the strongest blasts seldom break them. It 
retains its symmetry of form till old age. 

THE SUGAR MAPLE. 

The sugar, or hard Maple extends from New 
England to the West Central States. It grows more 
slowly than some of the softer varieties, but finally 
attains a very large size. 

When growing by itself in an open space, the 
branches and leaves come out low down on the 
stem. The top of the tree in such open locations 
is generally oval in shape. In a crowded forest, 
however, the main stem often rises forty or fifty 
feet without a single branch. 

The bark of the sugar maple is light gray in 
color, and is smooth on young trees, but rough on 
older ones. 

The wood is very hard, strong, fine-grained, com- 
pact, and capable of taking a high polish. It is one 
of the most useful of all woods, especially for tools, 
furniture, and floors. It is especially made use of 
for floors, owing to its fine grain and rreat wear- 
ing qualities. The wood is also valuable for fuel, 
making a hot, cheerful blaze nearly equal to that 
of hickory. 

The leaves of the tree are among the most beau- 
tiful of all leaves. They are arranged opposite on 
the stem, and have long, slender petioles. The 
simple leaf is divided into five principal lobes and 



96 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

several smaller sub-divisions, each ending in a 
sharp point. The veins radiate from the base of 
the leaf blade, giving it the palmate form. The 
autumn colorings of maple leaves are most glori- 
ous. They flash under October skies in red, crim- 
son, orange, and yellow. 

Maples blossom early, and the seeds ripen before 
the middle of summer. The seeds are borne at 
the end of long, pendulous foot-stalks, diverging 
into two wings forming what is known as maple 
keys. One of the capsules is usually empty, prob- 
ably for the reason that two seeds cannot ger- 
minate at the same spot without crowding each 
other. By means of the two wings the seeds are 
carried by the wind and planted in new soil. It is 
easy to grow maples from the seed. 

One of the most noted things about the sugar 
maple is the sweetness of its sap — from which maple 
syrup and maple sugar are made. The sap is 
drawn from the trees in very early spring, before 
the leaves begin to grow. Boring into the tree for 
sap beyond question weakens it to some extent, 
but the injury is so slight that the effect is seldom 
noticed, even though repeated for twenty or thirty 
consecutive years. 

On the whole, the sugar maple is a very beauti- 
ful and useful tree and will stand for generations 
in full vigor. No farm should be without a grove 
of sugar maples. 



TREES. 97 



OAKS. 

There are a dozen or more species of the Oak 
family, but they may all be classed roughly into 
two groups; namely, the white oak group and the 
red oak group. The white oak group matures its 
fruit in one year, and has rounded, lobed leaves; 
the red oak group has sharp-pointed, lobed leaves 
and requires two years for the ripening of its fruit. 

The oak stands as an emblem of strength, forti- 
tude, and endurance. There is nothing tender or 
pliant in its make-up. It is the embodiment of 
massiveness from its large, anchoring roots to the 
tips of its branches. Some trees bend or sway 
under a heavy load of ice and snow or the force of 
a strong wind, but not so with the oak. It resists 
everything with its own great strength. For this 
reason it has a wide range, being able to grow in 
almost any situation. It is a native of both Europe 
and America. It will grow in the sheltered valley 
or upon the unprotected mountain side, and thrive 
almost equally well in both places. 

Oaks grow to be very old. They are about 
twenty years old before they produce acorns, and a 
century or more before they are fully grown. 
There are oaks in England nearly a thousand 
years old, and some in the United States several 
hundred. 

A description of the white oak will give a fair 
notion of the whole family. 



98 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

The white oak is so called because of its light- 
colored bark. The bark is not pure white, but 
light gray. The bark of the white oak, as well as 
of all oaks, contains a large amount of tannic acid 
which is used in tanning leather. Enormous quan- 
tities of oak bark are used for this purpose. 

The quality of strength so characteristic of the 
oak family is accentuated in the white oak. The 
trunk is large and strong, the branches are gnarled 
and massive, striking out boldly from the main 
stem nearly at right angles, while the great, bulg- 
ing roots at its base strike strongly and deeply into 
the earth, giving it a foothold that defies the wild- 
est storm. 

The white oak blossoms in early summer and 
ripens its acorns before the autumn frosts of the 
same season. The acorns are readily eaten by 
many animals, and are quite nutritious. They may 
even be eaten by human beings. Young white oak 
trees are best secured by planting acorns, because 
the trees do not bear transplanting well owing to 
the downward tendency of their roots. 

Young white oak leaves unfold slowly from the 
buds, being soft in texture and pink in color. 
They are green during the summer, and turn red 
in autumn. 

The wood of the white oak has made it famous 
the world over. It is beyond question the strong- 
est of woods, and is used for numberless purposes 
where strength is required. The strong timbers in 



TREES. 99 

ships, houses, cars, bridges, and large machinery 
are nearly all made of white oak. It is also used 
to a large extent in making strong casks, handles 
for tools, frame work for carriages and wagons, and 
different parts of small machinery. There has been 
such a demand for it in so many lines that it will 
soon disappear if replanting is not vigorously begun. 

It is also one of the most beautiful and sub- 
stantial woods for furniture and inside finish, tak- 
ing the highest polish and giving an air of strength 
and solidity so desirable in such work. Some of 
the red oak group are equal to, or even better 
than the white oak, for the last named purposes, 
because of the darker color of the wood. 

Oak ranks among the best of hard woods for 
fuel. It burns with a hot, cheerful blaze and lasts 
for a long time. The early settlers of the Missis- 
sippi valley used it not only for fuel, but they split 
it into rails for fencing, cut it into posts, and built it 
into frames of houses and barns. The white oak 
stands the effect of outdoor, wet weather better 
than any of the other species, save, perhaps, the 
post oak, which is its closest relative. 

May the time soon come when every farm can 
boast of its grove of young oaks, to be handed 
down as a noble heritage to future generations. 

THE COTTONWOOD. 

The Cottonwood belongs to the poplar family. 
They all have soft wood and are very rapid grow- 

L.cfC. 



100 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

ers. The wood is so soft and difficult to work that 
the trees have been considered worthless till of 
late. It has recently been discovered that the 
wood has a high commercial value, and can be used 
for many purposes. It is now used very exten- 
sively for making paper. 

Its rapid growth and hardiness also make it a 
favorite with those who wish to have a forest or 
grove in a few years. An investment in a grove of 
cottonwood trees will give quick returns. The trees 
grow readily in almost any part of the United 
States. They are especially valuable for shade 
trees, not only in the country, but also in towns 
and cities. The leaves are so smooth that coal 
dust does not settle on them to stop up the pores, 
as is so often the case with trees having rough 
leaves. They always have a bright, clear, vigor- 
ous appearance. 

The foliage of a poplar tree is not dense, but the 
leafy top is beautiful and interesting. The leaves 
are always in motion. One kind, the aspen-leaf 
poplar, has its leaves so delicately adjusted on 
their long petioles that they are in constant motion 
when no breath of air can be perceived by any 
other means. 

In their movement they make a noise like a 
shower of rain, and may often be mistaken for such, 
even when the sky is clear. 

The leaves are somewhat oval in shape, broad at 
the base, and pointed at the apex. They are tough 
in texture, and turn yellow in autumn. 



TREES. 101 

The blossoms appear in early spring before the 
leaves are fully out. They hang in aments. When 
the seeds are ripe they are surrounded by a tuft of 
long, white hair resembling cotton; hence the 
name. By means of this cottony substance the 
seeds are carried long distances by the wind. 

The bark is rather light in color, even on very 
old trees, giving them a cheerful appearance. 
Solitary old cottonwood trees can be found in 
many sections of the country. They have few, but 
large branches, which extend upward nearly par- 
allel with the trunk. With their large arms they 
stand out in rugged beauty, catching every passing 
breeze with leaves high in the top, and indicating 
that activity and mirth are possible, even in old age. 

HICKORIES. 

Hickory Trees belong to the family of walnuts. 
They all bear nuts and compound leaves, making 
it easy to distinguish them. The leaves are pin- 
nately compound, ending in a single leaflet, which 
form is known as odd pinnate. The number of 
leaflets varies from five to twenty-three; the true 
walnuts having more than the hickories. 

The wood of the whole family is very valuable. 
Walnut timber is now very scarce, owing to the 
great demand for it in cabinet work. The wood of 
the black walnut is very dark, and ranks among the 
most costly of woods for fine cabinet work and 
furniture. 



102 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

Hickory timber is very light in color, splits in 
straight pieces, is tough and flexible, and its 
strength is unequalled. Hence, it is the wood 
much used for carriages and wagons. Spokes for 
wheels are made of hickory because of its tough- 
ness, flexibility, and strength. There is no other 
timber quite so good for this purpose. 

The shellbark is generally considered the best of 
hickory trees. It grows from fifty to eighty feet 
high. The branching varies according to the sur- 
roundings. In a forest with other trees it sends up 
a central trunk from thirty to fifty feet high, and 
then branches out into an irregular head. In an 
open field, the solitary tree begins to branch near 
the ground. The branches come out at nearly 
right angles to the main stem. The main stem is 
almost always persistent to the top, and the head 
of the tree is nearly cylindrical in form, with occa- 
sional wide gaps between the branches. 

Besides its timber and fuel value, — for all hickory 
wood is the very best for fuel, the shellbark is prized 
for its fruit. The nuts rank next to the English 
walnut in food value. The trees begin to bear at 
about twenty years of age, and continue to old age. 
A half dozen thrifty trees will bear all the nuts a 
family can use. The nuts ripen and fall off after 
the first frosts of autumn. The outer hull, which 
is in several parts, bursts open, setting free the 
brown treasure within, and the nut is ready to crack 
and eat. 



TREES. 103 

Probably no other grove of trees would yield a 
larger income on the amount invested than a small 
field of shellbark hickories. When bearing begins, 
the bark peels off and hangs in long, loose, vertical 
strips; but the younger trees, which would have to 
be thinned out, have smooth, tight bark. The 
bodies of such young trees are used for many pur- 
poses. They always command a high price. The 
nuts also have a high standard market value. 

A young person who now plants a small field 
with hickories, will not regret the experiment in 
after years. The young trees do not bear trans- 
planting on account of the long tap root. Young 
trees are best secured by planting the nuts where 
the trees are permanently to stand. 



CHAPTER IV. 
INSECTS. 

Stages in insect life. Food and growth of insects. Mimicry and 
protective resemblance. Cross-fertilization by insects. Destruc- 
tion of insects. Insects both friends and pests. Insect intelli- 
gence. Insecticides. House flies. Weevils in general. The 
granary weevil. Grain moths. The Indian -meal moth. How 
to keep out insects. The Hessian fly. The squash bug. 

Unlike most familiar animals, insects are inter- 
esting on account of the several stages through 
which they pass. Most kinds are so different in 
the different stages that one would not think them 
to be the same creatures. Who would believe 
that the slow, creeping, worm-like caterpillar would 
ever become a beautiful butterfly with large wings 
to sport in the sunlight; or the sluggish, soft- 
bodied grub transform into a lively beetle, with 
hard coat of mail, and wings and legs for rapid 
locomotion? Such, however, are some of the won- 
ders of the insect world. 

There are four stages in the life of the highest 
orders of insects — egg, larva, pupa, and adult. 
Some of the lower orders do not pass through all 
these stages, but, as the young hatch from the egg, 
they resemble the adult except in size and the pos- 
session of wings. In a few species, the young are 

104 



INSECTS. 



105 



brought forth alive. Two of the four stages are 
active and two are dormant. The larva and adult 
are active stages, the egg and pupa are dormant. 
Since the good or harm an insect does is in its 
eating, it is essential to find in what stage the most 
eating is done. In other words, its habits and life 
history must be learned. 

Most moths and butterflies eat an enormous 
amount in the larva, or caterpillar stage, but only 




CABBAGE BUTTERFLY, CATERPILLAR, AND CHRYSALIS. 



sip a little honey occasionally in the adult stage. 
Some beetles do as much eating in the adult as 
they do in the grub stage, but the food generally is 
of a different' character. The Colorado potato 
beetle lives on the potato plant during all its 
stages, the larva and adult both eating the leaves; 
while the cabbage butterfly lives on the cabbage 
leaf only in the larva stage, the adult flying in the 



106 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

air, now and then tasting the sweets of blossoms 
wherever they may be found. 

The larva stage is the one in which growth takes 
place. A caterpillar, for instance, hatches from 
the egg a very small worm-like creature. This eats 
for a few weeks or months, growing all the time, 
then enters the pupa, or dormant stage, after which 
no growth in size takes place. It eats during the 
worm stage not only for growth, but also to lay up 
stores of fat and other material for future use. 
During the dormant stage, this supply is changed, 
elaborated, and built into the organs of the adult 
insect. 

Insects may be classed as soft-bodied animals; 
that is, they have no inside bony skeleton, but are 
provided with a more or less hard outer skeleton. 
With many, it is a mere skin. As growth takes 
place they find this outside skin, or skeleton, grow 
too small, and change it from time to time for a 
new and larger one. This process is called moult- 
ing, and has an analogy among many other animals. 

Since no growth takes place in the adult stage, 
some insects take but little food during that time — 
only enough to repair waste of tissue and develop 
eggs. Some eat as voraciously during the adult 
stage as they do in the larva stage. In a few cases 
the adults eat nothing at all, and hence have no 
digestive organs. The May fly lives only a day as 
an adult, but three years in the aquatic, or larva, 
stage. It eats enough during its long period of 



INSECTS. 



107 



early life to supply sufficient strength for the very 
short adult period. Living for so short a period, 
it has no time for eating. A few hours are spent 
flitting in the bright sunshine, the eggs are laid in 
the water, and its round of life is complete. 

INSECT FOOD AND GROWTH. 

Insects feed upon both animal and vegetable 
matter. Grubs of beetles eat decayed vegetable 
matter, such as rotten wood; maggots of flies eat 




CECROPIA MOTH. 



decayed flesh; caterpillars eat leaves; plant lice and 
squash bugs suck the juices from plants; dragon 
flies catch and eat other insects; and many kinds 



108 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

eat almost anything that they can lay hold of. 
Ants probably display the greatest amount of intel- 
ligence in securing food. They have what are 
known as "ants' cows" and milk them. The 
so-called cows are plant lice from which they 
secure a sweetish substance called honey dew. 
They not only get it from plant lice while they are 
on plants, but they also take them to their homes 
and keep them much the same as a farmer does 
his cows. 

The main function of the adult female insect is 
to lay eggs, and generally after this act is accom- 
plished, she dies. Insects lay a great many eggs; 
some, many thousands. This is very necessary to 
preserve the species, for they are incessantly 
preyed upon by birds and other animals. Only 
one or two of every thousand ever come to 
maturity. 

MIMICRY AND PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE. 

Insects have so many enemies that they have 
acquired habits and devices by means of which to 
escape destruction. Eggs are frequently the color 
of the leaves upon which they are laid, or they are 
stuck to the under side of leaves to escape detec- 
tion. The eggs, as well as the caterpillars of the 
cabbage butterfly, are so nearly of the green of the 
cabbage leaf that only the closest search can reveal 
them. The wings of some adult insects are so 
nearly like certain leaves in form and color that 



INSECTS. 109 

the creatures make themselves appear to be a part 
of the stem upon which they alight. The insect 
known as the "walking-stick" so resembles a dead 
brown twig that it would be taken for such when 
at rest on a tree or shrub. Some night-flying 
moths sleep during the day attached to the trunks 
of trees, and so fold their wings as almost com- 
pletely to resemble the bark of the tree upon 
which they rest, and thus avoid being picked up by 
birds. 

Devices for mimicry are almost as numerous as 
the different forms of insect life. Mimicry, how- 
ever, is not confined to insects alone, but is com- 
mon to all classes of animals. It is thought that 
the stripes of the tiger are there to make it har- 
monize with the large grass blades among which it 
lurks. In this case, perhaps, the resemblance is 
not to conceal the tiger from danger, but that his 
prey will approach near without seeing him. 

Scientists have found that most plants do better 
when the pollen of one falls upon the blossom of 
another of the same kind than when the pollen 
falls upon the same blossom that produced it. The 
offspring of such a plant does better than others 
because it partakes of the qualities of two parents 
instead of those of one. A weakness in one par- 
ent may be compensated by corresponding strength 
in the other. This method of pollination is called 
cross-fertilization. Plants in which the pollen falls 
upon the blossom that produced it soon become 



110 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

weak and abnormal. Weakness and deformity are 
transmitted from generation to generation, till the 
plant is no longer able to cope with others in the 
struggle of life and thus dies and gives place to 
stronger forms. 

CROSS-FERTILIZATION BY INSECTS. 

Nature is very careful to secure cross-fertiliza- 
tion in plants. The visits of insects to the blos- 
soms to secure the nectar that they find there is 
the greatest means by which cross-fertilization is 
accomplished. To secure the carrying of pollen, 
plants have to pay for it by expending extra 
strength in producing pleasant odors, sweet nectar, 
bright-colored blossoms, and such attractive things. 
Insects would not carry pollen from one blossom to 
another were there not some reward for their doing 
it. Odor and color are probably guides to the 
sweets held by the blossoms. In securing nectar 
from the blossom, the insect unconsciously rakes off 
some pollen on his legs and body, and carries it to 
another blossom, thus accomplishing the desired 
result. 

It must be remembered, however, that the pollen 
of one blossom will do no good upon the blossom 
of a different kind of plant. For instance, the pol- 
len from an apple blossom carried by a bee to a 
pea blossom would not produce apples on the pea 
vine. Nature, again, has so ordered it that insects 
visit only one kind of plant while it blossoms, and 



INSECTS. 



Ill 



do not wander aimlessly from one kind to another. 
When apple trees are in bloom, bees, for example, 
feed upon apple blossoms; when catnip is in bloom, 
they feed upon catnip blossoms. When white 
clover is out, all honey made in the hive during 
that period is "white clover honey." 

White blossoms that are insect-fertilized come 



# 






«*fc- 




HOW INSECTS CARRY POLLEN. 



out at night; colored blossoms come out during 
the day. So some insects fly by day, and some by 
night. Certain insects fly by night because certain 
plants bloom then; or, the plants bloom then be- 
cause certain insects fly by night. 

Tubular blossoms conceal nectar deep down 
their tubes at their bases, out of the reach of most 
insects; but some moths and butterflies have for 



112 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

tongues or probosces long sucking tubes by means 
of which they are able to reach it. There is mar- 
vellous adaptation in the forms of blossoms and 
the structure of insects to secure cross-pollination 
among plants. Some of the most useful farm and 
garden plants depend upon insects to carry pollen 
from plant to plant. If it were not for the large 
bumble-bee, seed would not mature in red clover. 
The common honeybee carries pollen for the 
white clover. We are indebted to the same hum- 
ming, busy creature for abundant crops of apples 
and many other useful fruits. An apple orchard 
in full bloom fairly hums with the music of the busy 
honeybee. Care should be taken in spraying fruit 
trees not to kill any of these creatures, for they 
are as necessary to a full harvest of fruit as soil, 
rain, or sunshine. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS. 

Birds and other animals annually destroy mil- 
lions of insects in their different forms; insects also 
kill each other. Otherwise, they would increase to 
such an extent that no other animate beings could 
exist upon the earth. This is a well-known fact 
through the whole animal kingdom: mammals eat 
mammals; birds eat birds; fish eat fish. Some- 
times the parent will eat its own offspring. It 
seems cruel, but it is, nevertheless, a fact, and is, 
no doubt, necessary to preserve the balance of 
power and numbers among animals. 



INSECTS. 113 

Some insects, such as lice and flies, make a living 
by sucking blood out of other animals. Such 
creatures are called parasites* Insects, too, have 
parasites that either suck or eat away their vitality. 
Many ground beetles are literally covered with lice 
which can easily be seen with the naked eye. 
The common house-fly has a similar enemy, also a 
fungus growth .that carries off large numbers of 
them toward the close of summer. 

The ichneumon fly probably does as much, or 
more damage to insect life than does any other 
creature. It is provided with organs by means of 
which it pierces holes in the bodies of caterpillars 
and deposits its eggs therein. These eggs soon 
hatch and the young ichneumons slowly but gradu- 
ally eat away the internal soft parts of their host. 
The caterpillar eats voraciously to supply the 
waste, but to no effect. When the ichneumons are 
ready to come out into the world to lead a winged 
life, they finally eat the vital organs of the cater- 
pillar, leaving nothing but the empty outer shell. 
A similar fate overtakes large numbers of army 
worms and grasshoppers. 

A large kind of ichneumon has piercing — or 
rather, drilling organs several inches long. With 
these it is able to drill holes deep into the trunks 
of trees to the burrows of wood-boring grubs, upon 
which the young feed. It can be safely said that 
ichneumon flies help to keep down the numbers of 
injurious insects, and are therefore man's friends. 



m 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



All forms and stages of insects are the prey of 
predatory insects. Eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults, 
fall as victims. The dragon fly has already been 

spoken of. Be- 
ing rapid of 
flight and con- 
tinually on the 
wing, large 
numbers of 
small - winded insects are 




THE 
DRAGON FLY 



taken by it, and thus the air 
about streams and swamps is 
less infested than it other- 
wise would be. Beetles not only eat eggs and low 
forms of insect life in the ground, but chase higher 
forms over rocks and up trees. The tiger beetle is 
very useful in this respect. Some wasps, also, kill 
other insects. 



INSECT INTELLIGENCE. 

Although small in size, and comparatively low 
in the scale of animal life, some of the higher orders 
of insects display an unusual amount of intelli- 
gence, skill and constructive ability. The ant, liv- 
ing a social community life, shows in many ways a 
marked degree of intelligence. The honeybee is 
famous for constructive skill in building its 
geometric cells; it also shows foresight in laying 
up stores of honey for winter use. Paper wasps 
not only produce a fair quality of paper, but also 



INSECTS. 115 

skillfully build it into serviceable houses. The mud 
wasp is a mason who knows his trade well, and can 
build a more beautiful and complex house than 
any beaver or bird with the same material. 

If any insects can be called domestic, bees and 
silk moths are truly such. Honey of bees is not 
only pleasant to the taste but it also has a high 
food value. It is a common article of diet at all 
times of the year, and its commercial value is of 
no small importance. The caterpillar of the silk 
moth spins material that is worn in some form or 
other by nearly all of the human race. Silk is not 
only used for clothing but is woven into fabrics for 
almost numberless purposes. The silk worm does 
not thrive well in the United States, yet the silk 
trade is very extensive. The combined silk indus- 
tries of the world amount to hundreds of millions 
of dollars. It seems almost impossible that so 
small an insect could be of such service to human 
beings. 

INSECTICIDES. 

Different substances are used to kill insect pests 
of the farm and garden, but certain underlying 
general principles should govern the intelligent use 
of all of them. Chickens, as well as other birds, 
both wild and domestic, like to wallow in dust. 
They do it to kill the bird lice on them. Insects 
breathe by means of small tubes arranged along 
the sides of the body. These tubes, or breathing 



116 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

pores, are called spiracles. The spiracles are so 
small that dust stops them up and breathing can- 
not take place. Thus the insects die in the dust 
bath. When infested with lice, birds will take a 
dust bath in any kind of dry earth. Domestic 
birds prefer ashes when they are to be had, and 
will wallow in them in preference to dry earth. 
Ashes act as dust to stop up the breathing pores of 
insects, and the alkaline properties attack the tissue, 
making the destruction doubly sure. Man has 
copied from nature here and uses several kinds of 
dust to kill insects with. Ordinary road dust is 
often used. Lime and ashes are both good, and 
besides are excellent food for the plants when 
washed into the soil. 

Poisons, such as Paris green, London purple, 
and sulphate of copper are often sprayed upon 
plants infested with insects. The insects eat the 
leaves, take the chemicals into the system, and die 
by poisoning. 

Kerosene, carbolic acid, and similar substances 
are used because of their strong power to attack 
and destroy animal tissue. They literally blister 
or burn insects to death. A mixture of kerosene 
and soap, or soap alone, may be used with similar 
results. Soap is very good for the soil, too. 
There are three general principles then, in killing 
insects — stopping up the breathing pores, poison- 
ing, and burning or blistering the tissues. 

Large worms, or caterpillars, are sometimes 



INSECTS. 117 

picked off by hand and killed, when only a few 
plants are infested; but the process is very slow 
and uncertain for a large field. 

SOME OF OUR COMMON INSECT PESTS. — HOUSE FLIES. 

The house fly is one of the most common and 
familiar of all insects, and needs but little descrip- 
tion. It belongs to the order of two-winged (dip- 
terous) insects. There are four stages in its 
life-history — egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The 
larva is a small, 'worm-like, white maggot, and 
differs very much in form and habit from the adult. 
Maggots have mouth parts fitted for eating solid 
substances, while adult flies have them fitted for 
sucking liquids. 

Flies breed in filth and in decaying animal and 
vegetable matter, especially the former, or a mix- 
ture of both. So the presence and number of flies 
depend upon the amount of decaying organic mat- 
ter in a neighborhood — governed, of course, by the 
time of year or by the temperature. They breed in 
nearly all parts of the world, but do so most abun- 
dantly in warm countries. 

After eggs have been laid in filth of any kind, it 
takes but a few hours for them to hatch. The 
maggots eat for a few days, molt, or change their 
skin, twice during the time and then go into the 
pupa, or resting stage. The pupa stage lasts 
about five days. So it is less than two weeks from 
the time that eggs are laid till adults come forth. 



118 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

An individual female fly lays about a hundred 
eggs. From this it can be seen that a single fly 
could give rise to many millions during a single 
summer. 

It cannot be said that house flies are injurious; 
on the other hand, they do a great amount of good 
in destroying decaying organic matter. They are 
however, very troublesome to both man and beast. 
It is believed by some that germs of disease attach 
themselves to the bodies of flies and are thus car- 
ried from place to place. The truth of this theory 
is possible, tenable, and, indeed, highly probable; 
for flies are a common nuisance in sick rooms, and 
germs of disease adhering to them could be carried 
to, and infect, another person as easily as they 
could by the body or clothing of a human being. 

Different remedies are proposed. Garbage 
about the house should be quickly and carefully 
disposed of. Thorough cleanliness in the house, 
and careful screening of doors and windows will 
keep them out to a large extent. Cleanliness here 
implies that no sweet substances or food be left 
exposed, for they attract flies in larger numbers 
than almost anything else. They congregate 
wherever there is anything for them to eat or to 
lay their eggs in. 

A stable in which horses are kept will breed 
enough flies for a whole neighborhood. Stables 
should be swept clean daily and the refuse matter 
carted away to the fields and plowed under, or put 



INSECTS. H9 

into a tight tank and sprinkled with kerosene. 
Chloride of lime will also kill maggots, but it is too 
expensive to be practicable. 

Flies have several natural enemies. They are 
subject to disease, they are picked up by birds, and, 
in the larva forms, are eaten by beetles; but they 
breed so fast that the effect of this destruction is 
seldom noticed. The only true and ^ practical 
remedy for the nuisance they become lies in the 
combined efforts for cleanliness of every one own- 
ing stables, dwellings, or other buildings, in or about 
which decaying organic matter may accumulate. 

WEEVILS IN GENERAL. 

Under the head of weevil all those insects may 
be included that injure stored grain. There are 
many kinds of them, so only the most general 
description will be here given. 

Vegetables and fruits containing a large percen- 
tage of water can be kept in store only a few 
months. Water is very conducive to decay, but 
the so-called grains contain such a small percen- 
tage of water that they will keep for years in dry 
places without change. Owing to the small 
amount of water and the large amount of solid food 
in grains, they have become world-wide staples of 
consumption. Being so condensed in bulk, they 
can be shipped very long distances with profit, and 
people of countries not producing them are able to 
secure supplies almost as cheaply as if they were 



120 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

native to their own soil. The United States 
receives rice from China, and, in turn, sends wheat 
and corn to other countries. Countries and sec- 
tions of countries are able to tide over years of 
scarcity and famine for the same reason. 

Although grains are rich in food value, and have 
such good keeping qualities as far as decay is con- 
cerned, they are subject to injury by several kinds 
of insects, all popularly known as "weevils." These 
are very small insects, and hence can easily infest 
a quantity of grain without being discovered until 
a considerable amount of damage has been done. 
Not only is there a loss in weight, but the insects' 
bodies and excreta make it unfit for use as food. 
Some kinds destroy the germs of the seed so that 
they will not grow when planted, whence there 
results a diminution of the crop. 

Insect injuries to ripened and stored grains 
amount to many millions of dollars annually in a 
single State. In some cases nearly half of the 
corn is destroyed by them. The annual loss in 
the whole United States probably amounts, on an 
average, to nearly a hundred million dollars. 

Heat and dampness are conditions favoring the 
increase of such insects. Heat helps the eggs to 
hatch. Dampness renders the grains soft, so 
that they can be easily eaten. The husks of grain 
being primarily for protection, the husked varieties 
are subject to greater ravages than those from 
which the husks have not been removed. 



INSECTS. 



121 



Many different articles of food are now manufac- 
tured from grain and put up in packages. If such 
foods are made of uninfested stock and sealed 
immediately in insect-tight cases, the articles can 
be kept for a long time. All insects hatch from 




WOOLLY APHIS OF THE APPLE. 

a, agamic female; b, larval louse; c, pupa; d, winged female (with 
enlarged antenna above. ) 



eggs; so, if the box containing the food is sealed 
tightly with paper, or similar material, so that the 
adult cannot lay its eggs in it, none will hatch and 
the food will be safe. Many such articles are now 
put up in small pasteboard boxes and carefully 
sealed over with a thin covering of paper. 



122 LIFE ON THE FARM. 



THE GRANARY WEEVIL. 



The granary weevil is a small beetle which has 
been known for centuries to injure stored grain. 
The adult insect is about an eighth of an inch in 
length and brown in color. The female punctures 
the grains of wheat with her snout and lays her 
eggs in the cavities. When the eggs hatch, the 
larvae devour the mealy interior and then undergo 
their transformation. In the small cereals a single 
grain furnishes a house for but one larva; but in 
the larger kinds, such as Indian corn, a kernel 
furnishes a home for several individuals. 

The adult beetles, as well as the larvae, eat the 
grain. They are quite prolific and will breed sev- 
eral generations during a year. One pair may 
give rise to several thousand individuals annually. 

GRAIN MOTHS. 

These small moths infest all kinds of grain, and 
are destructive in fields as well as in bins, because 
of the adult's power of flight. The caterpillars do 
the damage. After hatching from the eggs, they 
burrow into the grain and eat out the starchy mat- 
ter. They soon mature, spin silken cocoons, enter 
the pupa stage, and transform into adult moths — to 
pass again through the cycle of life. They do 
more damage in the Southern than in the North- 
ern States. 



INSECTS. 123 

THE INDIAN-MEAL MOTH. 

Another moth, known as the Indian-meal moth, 
because its caterpillar infests the meal of Indian 
corn, is very common in many parts of the United 
States. 

It is a well-known fact with those using corn 
meal that it will not keep long in summer, but 
becomes stringy. This stringy substance is caused 
by the small caterpillars of this insect spinning 
large quantities of silken threads, to which the par- 
ticles of meal adhere. They also deposit a great 
amount of excrement, which makes the meal unfit 
for human consumption. No amount of sifting 
will thoroughly clean it. 

There are also many other moths and beetles 
that damage flour and grain, but their habits are so 
similar to the ones already given that a descrip- 
tion here is not necessary. 

HOW TO KEEP OUT INSECTS. 

Granaries, bins, and storehouses for grain should 
be lined with tight-fitting boards, then painted or 
whitewashed to stop up as many cracks as possible. 
After removing the grain at the end of each sea- 
son, they should be carefully swept, cleaned, and 
repainted, or whitewashed. No crevices should 
be left as lurking places for insects. Doors should 
be tight-fitting, and other openings carefully 
screened. Thorough cleanliness will go far to 



124 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

keep down the ravages of insects. Grain should 
be harvested and threshed as soon as possible to 
prevent the winged forms of insects from infesting 
it in the fields. 

For stored grains, bi-sulphide of carbon seems to 
be the best and most practical insecticide. Bi-sul- 
phide of carbon is a liquid with a strong, disagree- 
able odor. It vaporizes readily in the free air, is 
highly inflammable, and a powerful poison. It is 
very effective in killing insects, but it does not 
injure the grain. The liquid can be placed in 
dishes above the grain and allowed to vaporize. 
The vapor is heavier than air and soon sinks 
through the mass of grain to the bottom of the 
bin, killing all vermin therein. The liquid is put 
up in tin cans, is cheap, and easy to handle. 

THE HESSIAN FLY. 

Besides being injured by weevil in the bin, wheat 
is also subject to attack in the field by a still more 
formidable enemy, known as the Hessian fly. It is 
held by some that this pest was introduced into the 
United States during the Revolution by the Hes- 
sian troops. It began its ravages in the vicinity of 
their landing, and was probably brought over in 
straw, which they used for bedding. The first 
injuries were noticed in 1779. 

There is an annual loss in the United States of 
about fifty million bushels of wheat, due to the 
ravages of this insect. In some localities there is 



INSECTS. 125 

a loss of from one-half to an entire crop. The 
Hessian fly is a wheat insect, but it will also breed 
in a few other grains. 

, The adult insect is a small fly about one-eighth of 
an inch long, and dark in color. Like all flies, it 
passes through four distinct stages — Qgg, larva, 
pupa, and adult. The pupa stage for this fly is 
known as the "flaxseed stage," owing to its resem- 
blance to that seed. 

The second, or maggot, stage is the one that 
does the damage. Eggs are laid by the adult on 
the leaves or stems of wheat. They hatch in a few 
days, and the white maggots eat the tissue and 
suck the juices from the stalks. Sometimes their 
injuries cause enlargements to grow on the stems 
at the point of attack. If the injury is great, the 
plant falls to the ground. 

Most wheat plants respond to the injury by send- 
ing up new shoots; but these, in turn, are generally 
infested, so that only a partial crop is the result. 
Hardy varieties, that is, those with hard, flinty 
stems, sustain the least injury because the straws 
do not bend easily at the injured points. 

No remedy has been found to save a field when 
once infested with the Hessian fly, but careful 
measures may save succeeding crops. Since the 
flies work on the lower "joints of the stem, they 
may be left in the field by cutting the wheat high. 
If the stubble is then burned, they may be destroyed. 
Another effective measure is to plow under the 



126 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

infested stubble and plant the field with some 
other crop the next year. Late sowing of winter 
wheat will often prevent the crop from becoming 
infested, because the adult flies perish on the 
approach of cold weather and hence no eggs are 
laid on the young plants. This method is not 
always practicable, because wheat sown too late is 
in danger of being winter-killed. Probably the 
surest method of destroying the pest lies in the 
rotation of crops. 

It must be remembered, however, that, after all 
precautions have been taken, a neighbor's brood 
may easily fly over and defeat your precautions. 

THE SQUASH-BUG. 

By a great many people all insects are called 
"bugs." It is right to say that all bugs are insects, 
but not that all insects are bugs, any more than it 
would be to say that all birds are thrushes. One 
order of insects may be called bugs. It is dis- 
tinct from all the other orders, and may be known 
in several ways. The main characteristic is the 
mouth, which is fitted for piercing the tissues 
of plants and sucking their juices. Many bugs 
undergo an incomplete metamorphosis; that is, 
they have no distinct pupa stage, but the insects 
hatch from the eggs and closely resemble the 
adults, with the exception of wings. 

The stage between the Ggg and the adult is com- 
monly called the nymph stage. This is the stage in 



INSECTS. 



127 



which growth in size takes place. The nymph 
molts, or sheds its skin, several times to allow its 
body to grow. When the adult stage is reached 
wings appear, and growth in size stops. The adult 
eats in order to develop eggs for a new generation. 
The common squash-bug is so called because it 
is the best known of all insects that infest pump- 




SQUASH VINE BORER. 

a, male moth; b, female; c % eggs on a bit of squash stem; d, full- 
grown larva in situ in vine; e, pupa;/, pupal cell. 

kins and squashes. It is a true bug, having highly 
developed piercing and sucking mouth-parts, and 
undergoing incomplete metamorphosis. Its near 
relatives are bed-bugs, plant-lice, animal-lice, scale- 
insects, cicada, and a host of other pernicious 
insects. It can truthfully be said that they are the 
most despised of all the class. 



128 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

Squash-bugs are popularly known as "stink- 
bugs," from their disagreeable odor. The adult 
bug is about three-fourths of an inch long, dark- 
brown above, and mottled-yellow beneath, the long, 
jointed feelers prominent, and the wings folded 
diagonally across the back. 

Eggs of the squash-bug are generally laid on the 
under side of the leaves of the plant on which it 
feeds. They are nearly white when first laid, but 
soon change to a dark color. The eggs hatch in a 
little more than a week; the young nymphs are 
dark in color. They are green and black, and also 
assume reddish or brownish tinges before maturity. 

Injury to the plant is done by the insect's piercing 
a hole and sucking the juices. It attacks not only 
the vines, but also the leaves and fruit. The insect 
is more or less harmful during its entire active life. 
When a great number attack a plant, the juices 
are soon sucked away and the plant is sure to die. 
If the fruit alone is infested, development ceases. 
It is not only the sucking out of the juices that 
destroys the plant; but, in puncturing the holes, 
the insects inject a drop of liquid which has a 
poisonous effect upon the plant. 

Young plants sustain greater injuries than older 
ones; but at any time during the season sufficient 
numbers will completely destroy a crop. Some- 
times the attack is not begun till the fruit is nearly 
developed; but even then the bugs may cause it to 
be unfit for use. 



INSECTS. 129 

At the end of the season, or when the squash- 
bug has finished eating, it hides away in rubbish, 
among the dead vines, under bark and stones, or 
under almost anything it can find. It thus passes 
the winter in hibernation, ready to come out the 
next summer and lay eggs for new generations. 

No satisfactory chemical preparation for killing 
the squash-bug has been found. Anything strong 
enough to kill the insect will also kill the plant. 
Owing to their habits of concealment, a careful 
cleaning up of old vines, and burning, will destroy a 
great many of the bugs. It might also be said 
here that a careful raking up and burning of all 
the dead plants in gardens and truck patches 
would help to keep down the numbers of many 
injurious insects. Different plants attract different 
insects, so that a garden soon becomes a pest- 
house for many kinds . 

A good plan is to cover the garden a few inches 
deep with dry straw, spray the whole with a few 
gallons of kerosene, and burn. The cost of doing 
this, and the labor, would be recompensed many 
times. It must be remembered, however, that 
some forms pass the winter in the ground and 
would not be affected by such methods. 

Another, and probably the most reliable way to 
keep down the numbers of this pest, is to watch 
carefully early in the season for adults, to destroy 
them by hand, and to cut off leaves, or portions 
of leaves, to which eggs adhere. 



CHAPTER V. 



BIRDS. 

The food of birds. Relation of birds to agriculture. Utility not the 
only measure of the value of birds. Individual birds: — the 
woodpecker, the swallow, the meadow lark, quails, sparrows, 
the wren, the robin, bluebirds, the bobolink. 

It can truthfully be said that some things in the 
world are very important because we cannot live 
without them. 
The fact is 
that all things' 
have a place 
in the world, and con- 
tribute in some way 
or another to make 
it a fit abode for 




man. v 

Without air or ^B 

water, life of all kinds 

would soon come to 

an end. Without 

plants, animals would have nothing 

to feed upon. Were all fishes of 

one kind, some climates and some 

waters would be without fish. In 

the cycle of life, each individual is 

dependent upon its surroundings, 

but, in turn, helps to make those surroundings fit 

for others. 

130 



THE KINGFISHER. 



BIRDS. 131 

It is not true that we could not live upon the 
earth another day if all birds were killed, but life 
would not be so pleasant without them. Farming 
and gardening would not be so profitable; neither 
could shade and fruit trees be grown successfully 
because of the great numbers of insects that would 
thrive if left unmolested. We shall study birds, 
then, mainly with reference to the good they do in 
killing pernicious and injurious insects. 

THE FOOD OF BIRDS. 

Birds, like other animals, require food. Some 
eat one thing and some another. Some live 
entirely upon a vegetable diet, some on an animal 
diet, and some on a mixture of both vegetable and 
animal food. The greatest number of birds 
belongs to the last class; that is, the kind that eats 
both vegetable and animal food. The diet of 
birds, at first thought, seems to be of little impor- 
tance; but, upon careful study, it is found to have 
a vital relation to the success of farmers and gar- 
deners, and to be of general importance to all. 

In studying the food of birds, we shall find out 
many important things about their structure and 
habits. For instance, as winter approaches in our 
northern latitude, food becomes scarce. This 
compels some of our birds to fly to warmer 
regions, where food is abundant. Then, again, as 
summer approaches, they come back to the fresh 
and unoccupied fields where there is no lack of 



132 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



food during warm weather. Hence, the migration 
of birds is almost wholly dependent upon their 
food supply. 

Some birds stay north during the cold winter,when 

the ground is 
covered with 
snow and ice, 
and all in- 
sects are 
dead or hid- 
d e n away 
in a dormant 
state. Such 
birds are 
found to be 
well fitted to 
secure a liv- 
ing even dur- 
ing the se- 
vere winter, 
though the 
odds seem to 
b e against 
them. 

The wood- 
pecker is a 
good exam- 
ple of this 

THE WOODPECKER. 1 • J U 

kind. He 
stays north because his food is as easily secured 




BIRDS. 133 

during the winter as it is at any other season of 
the year. 

Woodpeckers feed largely upon those grubs of 
insects which burrow in the trunks and branches 
of trees. Their feet are fitted for clinging to the 
bark; their tails for supporting them while at work; 
their long, sharp bills for pecking holes in the wood 
to the grubs; and their slim, barbed tongues for 
piercing and dragging out the victims. So the 
structure of woodpeckers, to a large extent, 
depends upon the food they eat. 

The same is true of hawks and owls (see p. 135), 
which kill and eat birds and other animals. 
Their feet are fitted for catching and holding their 
prey, and their sharp, curved bills for cutting and 
tearing the flesh. The structure of the swallow's 
wings, tail, and mouth, is due to the fact that it 
lives upon winged insects and must catch them in 
mid-air. ^ 

Birds that catch fish and other small animals in 
the shallow water of swamps and streams, have 
long legs for wading, and long bills and necks for 
reaching deep into the water. Ducks and geese 
secure their food in either deep or shallow water, 
and have bills especially fitted for straining out the 
indigestible mud and other material. So the list 
continues, — each bird having something peculiar 
and interesting about it, due to the food upon 
which it subsists. 



m LIFE ON THE FARM. 



RELATION OF BIRDS TO AGRICULTURE. 

Until recent years, very little study of birds in 
their relation to agriculture has been made. Now, 
however, farming is reduced to a scientific basis, 
and many principles have to be considered to 
make it a successful pursuit. It is further admitted 
by all that insects are destructive to many crops, 
and that the reduction of their numbers, and hold- 
ing them in check, must be seriously considered. 

Artificial methods of insect destruction are fre- 
quently expensive and unsatisfactory. Often they 
cannot be used at all; and the producer is com- 
pelled to stand aside and see the results of his 
labor vanish before his eyes, with no means of help. 
There are times, too, during the busy summer's 
work, when the farmer feels that he cannot stop 
other work to kill insects. So they are permitted 
to increase till some valuable crop is destroyed. 

Now, the presence of birds is a natural means 
for keeping in check the harmful ravages of inju- 
rious insects. Birds never cease working. They 
rise early in the morning and retire late in the 
evening. All day long they pick up insects of all 
kinds, which they eat themselves or carry to their 
young 

There are no holidays with birds. Sunday and 
Monday are alike with them so far as eating is con- 
cerned. A farmer, then, may leave his fields one 
day in seven and know that the insect exter- 



BIRDS. 



1.5.) 



minators are still at work, if he is friendly to use- 
ful birds and allows them to live on his farm 
unmolested. It pays in more ways than one. 
Birds appreciate human kindness and protection 
as few other animals do. 




'HE SCREECH OWL. 



Birds are now protected by law in many States. 
In some localities, however, there is so little 
thought taken of the law that it is not strictly 
enforced. It thus happens that thousands of our 
most beautiful and useful creatures are sacrificed 
wantonly, or for the table, or for the capricious 



136 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

decoration of women's hats. And yet, in this 
enlightened time, it does seem that no thoughtful 
woman ought to consent to wear any part of a 
bird as an ornament. 

During the summer months, the main diet of 
birds consists of soft-bodied insects, such as grubs 
and caterpillars. This is especially true of young 
birds in the nest. Such forms are more easily 
swallowed and digested than others. Seeds are 
too hard for their tender stomachs. Adult birds 
eat seeds because they are able to digest them. 
The number of seeds, however, generally falls far 
short of the number of insects taken. It must not 
be forgotten, too, that young, growing birds require 
more food than full-grown ones, so the grain eaten 
by them after they are able to shift for themselves 
is fully compensated for by the great number of 
insects eaten while they are young. 

UTILITY NOT THE ONLY MEASURE OF THE 
VALUE OF BIRDS. 

Young birds in the nest should, therefore, be 
looked upon not only as interesting subjects for 
care and study, but as the most useful of all wild 
creatures that live on a farm. It is a well known 
fact that only a small part of the birds born ever 
arrive at maturity. Before they are able to fly 
from the nest, young birds are taken by animals 
of prey, are killed by lice in the nest, are killed by 
severe storms, or they die of starvation because of 



BIRDS. 



137 



accidents to their parents. Now, since they eat 
insects almost wholly during that period, it is quite 
evident that their value to the producer is very 
great, even though the surviving adults may eat a 
few grains of wheat or corn. 




THE BOBOLINK. 



Nor should the side of utility alone be consid- 
ered when the feathered tribe is studied. Birds 
are not only the most beautiful, but also the most 
cheerful creatures about a place. Their beauty of 
form and covering is unsurpassed by that of any 



138 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

other class of animals. Most creatures are dumb, 
or they only occasionally utter a few unmusical 
sounds. Birds, on the other hand, are the most 
musical of all animate creation, with the possible 
exception of man. There are but few species that 
do not utter pleasing vocal sounds. Many of them 
pour forth music of such volume and sweetness 
•that the appreciative ear could never tire of listen- 
ing. 

The songs of birds are missed during the winter 
months, but sound the sweeter when the wave of 
migration comes pouring over the North in spring. 
During the early summer months, (their mating 
season,) their songs are especially joyful. The 
songs of most birds are clearest in the early morn- 
ing, but many kinds sing well all day long. A 
rural scene without such sounds would be lonely 
indeed. Fortunate are those people who are 
privileged to enjoy such harmony. 

Our knowledge of the good or of the harm done 
by birds does not rest upon general observation 
alone. The United States Department of Agricul- 
ture has carefully examined the stomachs of 
several thousand individual birds. On an average, 
about 75 per cent, of the contents was found to 
consist of the bodies of insects, most of which are 
destructive to cultivated plants. Some species 
examined were found to subsist almost entirely 
upon insects, while only a few ate more grain than 
other kinds of food. 



BIRDS. 139 

With such facts in view regarding the usefulness 
of birds in keeping down the numbers of injurious 
insects, the farmer, the gardener, and the fruit 
grower should combine their efforts for the pro- 
tection of these valuable little friends. 

INDIVIDUAL BIRDS. — THE WOODPECKER. 

There are several species of this bird in the 
United States. As the name implies, it lives where 
wood is found. Now, trees furnish homes for many 
kinds of animals, especially insects, which feed 
upon the leaves and wood. Grubs, caterpillars, 
and ants eat into and destroy the trunks and 
branches of trees. Woodpeckers are better fitted 
than any other birds for capturing these insects. 

Until recently, before its true office was known, 
the woodpecker (see p. 132), was held in contempt 
by most people. They looked upon it as a worth- 
less creature, going about amusing itself by pecking 
needless holes in trees, or drumming upon the 
boards of buildings. 

But those looking carefully into the matter have 
found that such holes have been the salvation of 
the trees in which they were pecked. Out of each 
hole drilled by the bird a pernicious insect was 
extracted and eaten. In many cases, of course, the 
trees died, — not because of the holes made by the 
birds, but because the insects were so numerous. 
The inside of such trees, when they are cut down 
and split open, is found to be tunneled, or "honey- 



HO LIFE ON THE FARM. 

combed," in every direction by the holes made by 
insects. 

The writer well remembers the time when wood- 
peckers were killed in southern Illinois at all sea- 
sons of the year merely for the sport of shooting 
them. At the same time thousands of dollars' 
worth of trees were destroyed annually by one 
insect alone — the wood-borer. It is not likely that 
woodpeckers could have entirely eradicated the 
evil; but they surely would have helped greatly in 
keeping down the number of insects, had they 
been allowed to breed unmolested. It is to be 
hoped that these birds will not be slaughtered 
again for mere sport. 

Woodpeckers eat some vegetable food; but as 
most of it is of a wild variety, not much damage is 
done to cultivated crops. There is some doubt, 
however, as to one small species, known as the 
tk sap-sucker." This, bird pecks holes into the 
branches of trees for the sap which flows into 
them. It is thought by some that he more than 
recompenses for this bad trait in capturing insects 
attracted by the sap in the holes which he has 
pecked. At least, we should not condemn the 
whole family for the misdeeds of one member. 

There is probably no place in which woodpeckers 
can do more good than in an orchard. They 
should be induced to stay there rather than driven 
away. When a woodpecker is seen running up and 
down an apple tree, pecking vigorously at times, 



BIRDS. 



141 



this does not mean that it is trying to injure the 
tree, but that it is clearing the tree of enemies 
lurking in the wood and under the bark. 

Nor do woodpeckers confine themselves to trees. 
Often they alight upon the ground for prey, catch- 
ing beetles, ants, and even grasshoppers. 

Most species of woodpeckers stay in the north 
the year round. They keep us company when 
other birds have flown away. They are the great- 
est known conservators of trees of all kinds, and 
should be held in high esteem by those who love 
trees and know their value. 



THE SWALLOW. 

Swallows are 
very much un- 
like woodpeck- 
ers in their 
general struc- 
ture and in 
their habits. In 
the main, how- 
ever, they ac- 
complish the 
same end; 
n a m el y, the 
killing of in- 
sects. Just as 
w o o d p eckers 




THE SWALLOW. 



142 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

have long bills, barbed tongues, strong muscles 
of the head and neck, easily adjustable toes, and 
stiff tail-feathers, to enable them to secure insects 
from the trunks and branches of trees; so swallows 
have large wings, strong muscles of the chest for 
support in almost continual flight, long tails for 
guiding, sharp eyes for seeing, and a very large 
mouth to enable them to catch insects in mid-air. 

Some insects lead a sluggish life, hiding away for 
long periods, and moving very slowly within a 
small sphere; others are very active, flying almost 
continually in the air. Since different insects have 
different modes of life, then those animals that 
prey upon them must adapt themselves to certain 
conditions in order to secure the necessary supply 
of food. 

Since some insects burrow in wood, then birds, 
to secure them, must be able to dig into the wood. 
Since some insects creep on the ground among 
grass and weeds, then birds, to secure those kinds, 
must walk upon the ground, with their bills and 
eyes pointed continually downward. Since some 
insects spend most of their time flying in the air, 
the birds that catch them must also fly in the air. 
It always requires effort to secure food; and this 
struggle on the part of animals has a tendency to 
change their structure. 

Now, on account of the large, strong wings, and 
long, steering tails of swallows, they are able to fly 
almost continually. This makes them especially 



BIRDS. 143 

helpful in ridding the atmosphere of certain nox- 
ious and troublesome insects. When a swallow is 
seen gliding swiftly through the air, up at one 
moment, down at another, and turning a backward 
somersault at another, he is not doing it for the 
mere sport of expert acting. In every case it will 
be found that he is close upon the heels of some 
swift-flying insect, and must needs follow its devious 
course in order to catch it. Just as woodpeckers 
keep trees free of insects, so do swallows perform 
a similar service for the atmosphere. 

It is a well-known fact that swallows all fly south 
early in autumn. This is very necessary. Living, 
as they do, upon insects of the air alone, their food 
supply soon vanishes on the approach of cold 
weather. They are then compelled to seek a 
climate where the air is warm enough for insects 
to be found. 

Most swallows are social in their habits, and will 
build their nests in and about barns and other 
farm buildings, if allowed to do so. They should 
be encouraged in this habit. They will pay many 
times over for the trouble of providing for them in 
keeping the summer air around the premises clear 
of insects troublesome to both man and beast. 

THE MEADOW LARK. 

The meadow lark is distinctively a ground bird. 
It nests on the ground and feeds on the ground. 
Now and then it can be seen sitting: for a few min- 



144 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



utes on some telegraph post or tree, but it prefers 
not to get farther away from the earth than a 
fence-top. Few other birds spend their lives so 
low down as the meadow lark. 




THE BLUEBIRD. 



BIRDS. 145 

From careful examination it has been found that 
the food of meadow larks is made up largely of 
insects. Its vegetable diet consists of a few grains 
of cultivated plants, and the seeds of noxious 
weeds, — the latter almost wholly predominating. 
The insects eaten are mostly beetles, caterpillars, 
and grasshoppers. 

Some of these beetles are injurious to cultivated 
crops and some are not. The caterpillars are those 
popularly known as "cut-worms," an insect most de- 
structive to grasses, — young corn especially. Cut- 
worms are difficult to kill by artificial methods 
from the fact that they spend a great deal of their 
time beneath the surface of the soil. They come 
up only long enough to cut off stalks of young 
grass, which they drag back into their holes. The 
destructive work of grasshoppers is so well known 
that it needs no comment. They, too, are difficult 
to handle by artificial methods. 

During the grasshopper season, meadow larks, 
as well as many other birds, eat very little other 
food. Female grasshoppers make small holes in 
the ground and lay their eggs therein. During 
this process, myriads are snapped up by the 
meadow larks before they have time to deposit 
their eggs. This diminishes the number that 
would be hatched out the next season. 

The meadow lark goes south only when it is 
compelled to do so by severe weather. It stays 
all winter in portions of southern Illinois, and in 



146 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

the same latitude elsewhere. It is even successful 
in securing some insects during this cold season, as 
is evidenced by the examination of its stomach. 
It is able to subsist for some time on a vegetable 
diet, weed seed especially, and returns farther 
north very early in spring. 

Meadow larks are often killed just for the sport 
of shooting at them, and some are killed for food. 
When, however, the great value of these birds is 
known, it is hoped that all such wanton waste will 
stop entirely. 

The song of the meadow lark is not so sweet as 
that of the famous English lark, nor as that of 
some other American birds; but it is of no mean 
character. Most of our best song-birds dispense 
their music from the tops of shrubs or trees, and 
seldom from the ground in open fields. The 
meadow lark, however, cheerful at its work in its 
lowly station, pours forth happy, whistling notes 
all day long, where otherwise silence and monotony 
would reign. 

SOME OTHER BENEFICIAL BIRDS. 

The limits of this volume will not permit a 
description in detail of the habits of all useful 
birds in this section of the United States. So we 
must be content with a passing notice of only a few 
more. 

The value of quails as insect destroyers has long 
been known by the farmers of the Central States; 



BIRDS. 147 

but, being so highly prized for food, they have 
become favorite game birds. Nothing but the 
most stringent game laws will ever stop their 
slaughter. 

Most States now have laws which prohibit the 
killing of quails except for a few weeks of each 
year. During those few weeks of non-protection, 
however, they are shot or trapped in such large 
numbers that it is a wonder any remain for the 
next season's breeding. If the maximum amount 
of good is to be derived from these birds, laws 
must be enacted to prevent their being killed at 
any season of the year. 

Quails, like a number of other useful birds, eat 
some wheat, oats, and corn; but the grains are 
mostly those that shatter off in the fields and 
would never be utilized. When undisturbed for 
several months, quails grow very tame, and will 
feed near dwellings, or bathe in the dust of coun- 
try roads almost within arm's reach of the passer- 
by. They are very prolific, and would soon 
increase to sufficient numbers to do a vast amount 
of good if they were not annually killed down to 
comparatively a few individuals. 

Sparrows are also very useful birds. In addition 
to the many noxious insects taken, they eat large 
quantities of the seeds of worthless weeds. Few 
seeds of useful plants are eaten by them. The 
much-despised English sparrow probably does 
much more good than harm. It does not drive 



148 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

other useful birds away to such an extent as it has 
been accused of. Most of its vegetable diet con- 
sists of refuse or weed seed. Its value as an insect 
destroyer during the summer months cannot be 
questioned. 

During the summer of 1900, the writer watched 
a male and female English sparrow carry food to 
a nest of half-grown young. The food brought 
consisted entirely of cabbage worms (caterpillars 
of the cabbage butterfly), and the number amounted 
to an average of about fifteen per hour. Now, 
taking into consideration that the summer day is a 
long day, and that all birds work early and late, 
the large number fed to one nest of young during 
their helpless period can easily be determined. 
This, of course, takes no account of the number of 
caterpillars eaten by the parents themselves to sup- 
port them in their arduous labor. 

The house wren, besides being a cheerful little 
creature about a house, is another very useful bird 
at killing insects. Its food consists almost entirely 
of insects. Some claim that it eats absolutely noth- 
ing else. It will build any place about dwellings 
where it can find lodgment for its nest. If undis- 
turbed by cats, dogs, or human beings, the house 
wren will sit and sing within four or five feet of a 
person without showing any signs of fear. 

It might be said here that cats are the worst 
enemies of birds. They no doubt drive away many 
valuable species that would otherwise be a source 



BIRDS 



149 



of pleasure and of profit. If shade trees, fruit 
trees, and other plants of the yard and garden are 
expected to thrive, they must be kept free from 
the ravages of noxious insects; and birds will do 
the work more cheaply and with less injury to the 
plants than anything else. 




THE ROBIN. 



Another beautiful bird is the robin. It eats some 
fruit, grain, and angleworms, for which it must be 
condemned, but it is so valuable in killing harmful 
insects that it more than pays for the damage. 



150 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

The robin is also a comparatively tame bird, feed- 
ing near dwellings as well as in open fields. 

Bluebirds (see p. 144) are also very useful in kill- 
ing caterpillars, grasshoppers, and many other 
injurious insects. During the grasshopper season 
the bluebird's food consists largely of this insect. 

The bobolink (see p. 137) is a bird which deserves 
both praise and blame. In the northern part of 
the United States it lives almost entirely upon 
insects and weed seed; but, in the South, we are 
sorry to say, it does so much damage to rice fields 
that it is hunted and killed on every hand. 

In concluding this short and incomplete discus- 
sion of useful birds, a few random notes from a late 
popular book on the subject will be given: — 

"The goldfinch eats seeds of the thistle." 

"The phoebe bird catches gnats and flies." 

"Grouse catch spiders and beetles." 

"English sparrows eat bark-insects from trees." 

"Owls eat more mice and insects than birds." 

"The woodpecker gets grubs and beetles from 
the trunks and branches of trees." 

"The kingbird catches flies and beetles on the 
wing." 

"Mr. Samuels says, 'Thrushes rid the soil of 
noxious insects not preyed upon by other birds.' ' 

"Some hawks eat insects." 



CHAPTER VI. 
BACTERIA. 

Their three general groups. Forms and growth. How bacteria 
may be destroyed. Their relation to the fertility of the soil 
How decay produced by bacteria increases fertility in soils. 
Decay of fruits, meats, and vegetables. Various means of pre- 
serving food. 

Relation of bacteria to dairy products. Part bacteria'play in making 
butter and cheese. Bacteria in vinegar-making. 

In the air, on the surface of all objects, in water 
and in most all liquids, and in the soil everywhere, 
are millions of very small living things called bac- 
teria, or germs. They are so small that, to see 
them, one requires the aid of a compound micro- 
scope. It takes several thousand bacteria, laid side 
by side or end to end, to make a line an inch long. 
Small as they are, they exist in such countless 
numbers that their influence in the world is very 
great. 

In a very general way it can be said that there 
are three kinds of bacteria,— those that are useful 
to man, those that are harmful, and those that are 
neither harmful nor useful. However, when they 
shall have been studied more, the last kind may be 
classed with one of the other two. Bacteria are 
generally thought of as producing disease. It is 
true that a number of species do produce disease; 

151 



152 



LIFE ON THE FARM. 



but these species are not so numerous as the harm- 
less kinds. 




£>^ 




9% 




-s** 



V5- 

s ■ 



■' 






':'\. 



BACILLUS SUBT1LIS IN HAY INFUSION. 

a, short rod ; &, non-motile rods and chains ; c, spores ; d, motile 
chains; e y mass of spores forming a pellicle. 



FORMS AND GROWTH. 

Though they are very small, yet bacteria have 
definite shapes. Some kinds are spherical, some 
cylindrical, and some spiral. These three general 



BACTERIA. 153 

shapes represent all that have been discovered and 
studied up to the present time. The single bacte- 
rium consists of a single cell; and this single cell, 
simple as it is, carries on all the processes of life. 

As with most one-celled plants and animals, bac- 
teria multiply by division. The process is a simple 
one. The single cell divides into two parts, giving 
rise to two individuals instead of one. These two 
grow for a short time; then each one divides into 
two equal parts and four individuals are the result. 
These four in the same manner give rise to eight, 
and these eight to sixteen, and so on, the number 
always doubling. Some kinds divide at short 
intervals — not more than half an hour apart — but 
other kinds require a longer time. 

Dividing once each half hour, one bacterium 
could thus give rise to several million individuals 
during a day of twenty-four hours, as can easily be 
computed. At this rapid rate of multiplication, 
they would soon fill the world if a sufficient food 
supply were at hand. The fact is that they soon 
exhaust their food supply in any one place and die 
of starvation, or are poisoned by the effect of too 
many living in one small colony. 

Bacteria require moisture for their propagation 
and growth. They are distributed everywhere, but 
active life and growth are manifest only with the 
presence of moisture. Bacteria, as spores, are in 
and on all dry substances. Life in the spore state 
is dormant, just as life in some higher plants is 



154 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

dormant in seeds and bulbs. Bacteria can exist in 
this state for a long time, in many cases for years, 
and then become active when the necessary mois- 
ture is supplied. 

In the spore or resistant state, bacteria are float- 
ing everywhere in large numbers in the dust of the 
atmosphere. Their minute size makes this pos- 
sible. The more dust, of course, the more germs. 
The stirring up of dust on a street, in a house, or 
in a stable sets afloat millions of bacteria, to settle 
again after the air becomes quiet. In this manner 
they are carried from place to place and from 
object to object. They never rise and float away 
from a moist or liquid surface. 

HOW BACTERIA MAY BE DESTROYED. 

Not only moisture, but a certain amount of heat 
is necessary for the growth of bacteria. Too much 
heat kills them. Boiling from a few minutes to 
several hours destroys most kinds, but some are 
able to resist continued boiling in water and are 
killed only by a much greater heat. The best tem- 
perature for rapid growth is a little less than mid- 
way between freezing and boiling. Freezing stops 
the growth but does not destroy the life of bacteria. 
A substance in which they are growing may be 
frozen for a long time, stopping their growth for 
the period; but, on being thawed, their activity 
begins anew. 

A great many chemical substances kill bacteria. 



BACTERIA. 155 

The list is a very long one. They could be called, 
in general, poisons. They are sometimes termed 
germicides. A chemical that kills one species may 
not have any effect upon another. They are often 
killed by the excreta due to their own growth. 

Bacteria require food just as other living things 
do. Their food must be in a moist, or liquid, con- 
dition. Wherever there is dead animal or vege- 
table matter in a moist state, with the temperature 
sufficiently warm, bacteria will begin to grow and 
multiply and cause decomposition. When the tem- 
perature is low, such as in ordinary freezing, winter 
weather, their action ceases; but it begins again 
when the temperature rises much above freezing. 

Living, healthy plants and animals have the 
power to resist the attacks of bacteria. When life 
ceases, the resisting power ceases; so that a plant 
or animal begins to decay as soon as it is dead, 
especially in warm, moist weather. This decay is 
always due to the growth of bacteria. 

RELATION OF BACTERIA TO THE FERTILITY OF 
THE SOIL. 

It is a well-known fact among farmers that the 
fertility of the soil is soon exhausted by the succes- 
sive raising and clearing off of crops, if nothing is 
given back in return. For long ages the earth has 
produced countless numbers of plants and animals 
which have derived their sustenance from the soil. 
All this time the soil has not only retained its 



156 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

strength, but has added thereto. Here is where 
these wonderful micro-organisms perform such an 
important part in the physical and chemical 
changes going on in the earth's crust. 

As soon as plants and animals die, decomposi- 
tion sets in — due to the action of bacteria. When 
their bodies fully decay, as much substance is 
returned to the earth as was taken from it by them. 
Another generation of plants and animals uses up 
this; but they, in turn, give back their bodies in 
decay to the soil. Thus, in nature's cycle of 
change, there is a using over and over again of the 
same substances; but the powerful action of bac- 
teria makes it possible for the complete transfor- 
mations to take place. 

Even if the soil had been extremely fertile and 
deep in the beginning, the bodies of dead plants 
and animals would have accumulated to such an 
extent as to make further life impossible, had it 
not been for the presence of decomposing germs. 
Bodies of animals have been found preserved for 
ages in the ice of very cold regions. Decomposi- 
tion did not take place because bacteria are dor- 
mant at such low temperatures. 

It is similar with dried specimens. Decomposi- 
tion germs cannot work without the presence of 
moisture. So bacteria keep the surface of the 
earth free from dead bodies of plants and animals 
by decomposing them and returning them to the 
soil from whence they came. Bacteria are thus 



BACTERIA. 157 

one of the prime factors in making continued life 
on the globe possible. 

HOW DECAY INCREASES FERTILITY. 

It must not be forgotten that bacteria cause 
decay of small creatures as well as of large ones, 
and that the fertility of the soil is due largely to 
the decay of many minute plants and animals. 
Untold millions of insects, and other small animals, 
among plants and in the ground, die annually. 
Their bodies are covered with decomposition 
germs, too, and they pass through the same stages 
of decay and change as the higher forms. 

There are few better ways of increasing the 
fertility of a piece of land than to let it "rest"; that 
is, to cease cultivation and let it grow up in weeds. 
The increased fertility comes from the rapid decay 
of the great numbers of small plants and animals. 
For this reason it is always better to let a field 
grow up in weeds than to keep the surface clean. 
The weeds naturally afford forage and breeding 
places for insects and other small animals whose 
life is very short. They all die and are returned 
to the soil at the end of the season. 

Bacteria live in the soil as well as on its surface. 
They help to decompose organic matter mixed 
with the soil. They are very numerous near the 
surface, and decrease downward. At a depth of 
five or six feet few, or none, are found. 

Often organic matter in some soils will not 



158 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

decay. This is not due to the absence of bacteria, 
but to conditions which prohibit their growth. 
Some low, wet soils are of this nature. The soil 
water holds acids in solution. These kill germs. 
Such land generally becomes very productive when 
well drained, for the washing out of the acids gives 
the bacteria a chance to work. A good circula- 
tion of air in the soil also increases their action. 

The decay of organic matter in general is caused 
by the action of germs. Waste matter from 
dwellings and stables readily decomposes when 
moisture is present. Such matter is generally 
piled in heaps to prevent loss of moisture by evap- 
oration. Since decomposition produces heat, the 
rate of decay can be determined roughly by the 
temperature of the mass. 

Farmers are careful to harvest their crops and 
store them away in a dry condition. Wet grain or 
hay will so decay or "turn sour" in a day or two, 
during very warm weather, as to become unfit for 
animal food. It can then be used only as a fer- 
tilizer. In some of these cases decay is due to the 
growth of moulds and fungi, but the result is the 
same as that produced by bacteria; namely, the 
reduction of the substances into several elements 
and compounds, their identity being destroyed. 

DECAY OF FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND MEATS. 

People have learned by experience that a wound 
caused by cutting or breaking the skin is attended 



BACTERIA. 159 

with serious results, if care is not taken to exclude 
the air. The outside layer of skin, not being sup- 
plied with blood vessels, is germ proof, and 
excludes bacteria from the inner and more delicate 
parts. In a similar way, fruits and vegetables are 
covered with skin to keep out decomposition 
germs. When this skin is once broken germs 
enter, and decay quickly sets in. 

Fruits and vegetables contain a large amount of 
water, and for this reason they are more subject to 
decay than grain, nuts, beans, and their like, that 
contain but a small amount of moisture. When 
the water is taken from them, they will keep for a 
long time, because germs cannot act without the 
presence of water. From this fact, the drying of 
fruits and vegetables has come about. Meats are 
dried for the same reason, and will keep for a long 
time in that condition. 

The bacteria in vegetables, fruits, and meats can 
be killed by boiling for an hour or more. If the 
substances to be preserved are then put in cans 
which have been thoroughly cleaned and heated so 
as to kill all germs, and if the cans are hermetically 
sealed, they will keep their contents sound for an 
indefinite length of time. The things necessary to 
do in canning foods so that they will keep, are to 
kill all germs in the food and the inside of the 
cans; to seal while hot, so as not to allow other 
germs from the air to enter, and to keep sealed 
till the whole contents of a can are to be used. 



160 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

If living germs have been allowed to enter the 
can with the food, and decomposition or fermenta- 
tion has set in, the fact may at once be known by 
the escape of confined gas. The principle of can- 
ning is founded upon the fact that the exclusion of 
bacteria from organic matter will prevent its 
decomposition. 

VARIOUS MEANS OF PRESERVING FOOD. 

Another method of controlling the action of 
germs in food is to reduce the temperature to near 
the freezing point. The low temperature simply 
keeps them from growing and multiplying. As 
soon as the temperature rises, they begin to act and 
the food spoils. For this reason meats, fruits, and 
vegetables keep longer during winter and in cold 
storage. 

Bacteria cannot live in a strong solution of com- 
mon salt (sodium chloride), and a great deal of 
meat, and some vegetables, are preserved through 
this means. The salt solution, however, produces 
some changes in such foods, so that they lose the 
flavor of their original freshness. 

Some meats are "cured" with common salt, or 
other chemicals; some, by smoking. Fish and 
pork are thus treated. Smoking coats the outside 
of the meat with a thin layer of creosote (crude 
carbolic acid), which not only kills all germs pres- 
ent, but also gives the meat a better flavor. Car- 
bolic acid is a dangerous substance to take into the 



BACTERIA. 161 

human system in very large quantities, but there is 
so little of it on smoked meats that no harm what- 
ever results. The smoke of most any kind of wood 
will preserve meat, but some kinds give better 
flavors than others. 

Sugar is also a preservative against the action of 
germs. It is used to a limited extent in curing 
meats, but very widely in the preservation of fruits. 
Such fruits are cooked for a long time. The cook- 
ing, or "boiling down," kills all germs present, and 
drives off the water, thus making conditions unfit 
for others to grow. Some dried fruits, such as figs, 
dates, raisins, and currants owe their good keeping 
qualities to the large amount of sugar present. 

RELATION OF BACTERIA TO DAIRY PRODUCTS. 

Milk, when freshly taken from the cow, contains 
few, or no, bacteria. During the ordinary process 
of milking, however, millions of germs find their 
way into the milk. Bacteria are floating in great 
numbers in the dust of barns. They are on the 
hay, in the litter on the floor, on the hairs of the 
cows and other animals, and in the clothing and on 
the hands of the milker himself. 

Any hairs, dirt, or dust falling into the milk pail 
carry with them large numbers of germs. There 
is generally a great deal of dust in the cow stable 
at milking time. This is stirred up by the handling 
of hay and other feed. Cows shed their hair more 
or less all the time, and it is not uncommon for 



162 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

such hairs to drop into the pail during the process 
of milking. 

The milker often feeds the cows as well as milks 
them, consequently his hands are not absolutely 
free from dirt and dust. Some of the dirt finds its 
way into the milk pail. Most hairs, dirt, and other 
foreign bodies are removed from the milk when it 
is strained; but the germs clinging to them have 
become mixed with the liquid, and harmful results 
follow. 

The milk pail itself is often a source of contami- 
nation. All milk vessels should be carefully 
washed and thoroughly scalded with boiling water. 
When this is not properly done, germs from the 
previous milking, and from other sources, are 
given to the fresh milk. Sunlight is a good disin- 
fectant. All milk vessels, after being washed, 
should be sunned if clean, sweet, milk is desired 

With the best of care to prevent contamination, 
some bacteria always find their way into milk 
freshly taken from the cow. It is difficult, if not 
absolutely impossible, to secure milk that has no 
bacteria in it. 

It is a fact well known to dairymen that bacteria 
cause the souring of milk. A small number in the 
milk multiply into large numbers in a few hours. 
Here they find water and all essential foods for per- 
fect and rapid development, provided the liquid is 
kept warm enough. On a warm summer day the 
fresh product will sour in a few hours, if kept in 



BACTERIA. 163 

the free, open air. A moderate degree of heat 
seems to be all that is needed. 

From this fact has come the method of cooling 
milk to keep it sweet. Vessels containing fresh 
milk, if placed in the cold water of wells or springs, 
will attain a temperature low enough to keep it 
sweet for a day or two, according to the other 
influencing conditions. Ice, too, is used for cool- 
ing milk, and will keep it fresh for a longer time 
than ordinary cold water. Milk kept on ice, or in 
iced water, under favorable conditions, will stay 
sweet for several days. 

The cooling process does not destroy the germs, 
but simply retards their action and holds it in 
check. The germs are still there, and will multiply 
and grow, causing the milk to sour, as soon as a 
sufficiently high temperature is restored. 

When it is desired to destroy the life of bacteria 
in milk, boiling from a few minutes to an hour or 
more will accomplish the result. This is often 
done when harmful species, such as disease-pro- 
ducing germs, are present. If the milk is to be 
used immediately, no further care is necessary; 
but if it is to be kept for some time, it should be 
quickly cooled, and kept cool until needed. By 
sealing in air-tight cans while hot, milk will keep 
sweet for a very long time; in fact, almost indefi- 
nitely, providing proper care is taken in sealing. 
The only objection to this method of killing the 
bacteria in milk is that the boiling produces a 



164 LIFE ON THE FARM. 

flavor objectionable to some people. However, it 
is the safest plan. 

Certain chemicals added to milk will kill the 
bacteria present and keep the product fresh for a 
long time. Some of these are poisons, but so small 
a quantity is needed that harmful results need 
not follow. However, in the hands of ignorant 
or unskilled persons, the use of such chemicals 
is a dangerous experiment and should not be 
resorted to. 



PART BACTERIA PLAY IN MAKING BUTTER AND CHEESE. 

In butter-making, bacteria play a leading part. 
Fresh cream is sweet, but before it can be made 
into butter with a good flavor, it must undergo 
changes. These changes are called "ripening:' 
Cream, when kept at the right temperature, sours, 
and the souring is necessary to give the product 
the right flavor. Several species of bacteria often 
work in the same cream, and the butter made from 
such cream is not of good quality. Each species 
produces its own peculiar flavor. 

Butter-makers are very careful to exclude all 
kinds of bacteria except those that give the desired 
flavor and aroma. This is not always possible; but 
care and scientific methods have done a great deal 
to improve the quality of butter. Some butter- 
makers have almost absolute control over the 
species and growth of bacteria in their factories, 



BACTERIA. 165 

so that they produce an article highly flavored and 
of a standard quality. 

As soon as the butter is made, most of the bac- 
teria die, probably on account of the small amount 
of water and the presence of a great deal of 
salt. 

Some, however, remain alive. These, after a 
while, cause the butter to change its character and 
become rancid. Butter, to keep well, should have 
all of the water worked out, and a large amount of 
common salt mixed with it. Salt kills bacteria in 
butter just as it does in meat. 

Cheese-making is also dependent upon the 
growth of bacteria. Cheese is made from the 
casein of milk. This is separated from the other 
products by rennet. After being separated, the 
casein is pressed into a solid mass of the shape 
and size desired, and then set away in a moderate 
temperature to ripen. It takes weeks, sometimes 
months, for cheese to ripen, depending upon the 
kind and the influencing conditions. The slow- 
ness of the process is probably due to the fact 
that a great deal of water is pressed from the mass 
in reducing it to a solid condition. 

Often bacteria different from the ones desired 
get into cheese. These so change the product as 
to make it unfit for use. The cheese-maker can- 
not always control the germs in his cheese so as to 
produce grades of uniform quality and flavor; but, 
with care, most of the difficulties can be overcome. 



166 LIFE ON THE FARM. 



BACTERIA IN VINEGAR-MAKING. 

Vinegar is a weak solution of acetic acid. On 
the farm it is usually made of apple cider. The 
juice of apples, and other juices of similar compo- 
sition, contain more or less sugar. Sugar is 
readily converted into alcohol, and acetic acid is 
only oxidized alcohol. The organic compounds 
in cider are broken up and reunited through the 
action of bacteria. 

Apple cider, in warm weather, after standing for 
about twenty-four hours, gives off bubbles of gas. 
The gas is carbon dioxide and the process is fer- 
mentation. The gas gives the cider a sparkling 
appearance and a spicy taste. After fermenting 
for another day or two, the cider acquires a strong, 
sour taste. In a few weeks of change, the product 
is vinegar. 

The bacteria in the cider grow into a vast 
colony, forming a solid, slimy mass known as 
"mother of vinegar." They get into the cider 
first from the barrel itself, and from the air; but 
the process may be hastened by introducing some 
mother of vinegar. Sweet cider makes stronger 
and better vinegar than other kinds from the fact 
that it contains more sugar. 

Vinegar is made in different ways and from 
different substances, but in most cases commercial 
vinegar is produced directly by the action of bac- 
teria. 



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